


(if you and i are together) we can run across the sky

by consistently_inconsistent



Series: daybreak (or: what happens after the apocalypse?) [1]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Blood and Injury, Developing Friendships, Exes, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Nuclear War, Slow Burn, a.k.a a post apocalyptic only then teens survived kinda thing, basically all the adults died or got turned into zombies, but everyone under 25 survived so like GEN Z!!!, but not too slow, ft cameos from a bunch of other gen z idols!!!, i try and update once every month so bear with me please, kai fifth wheels but he doesn't mind, read it youll get it, ships are kinda secondary tbh, they survive based on their high school identities lmao, they're both really mild but they're there, this is basically daybreak on netflix, this is my first time writing something like this please be nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22587886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consistently_inconsistent/pseuds/consistently_inconsistent
Summary: Yeonjun hated it here, he really fucking hated it here.He just wanted out at this point, fuck ITZY, fuck the MIDZYs, fuck the Hwang Twins, and frankly? Fuck everyone.He hated the snootiness, he hated the god-complexes, he hated the twins - hell, at this point he hated himself. He would've left days ago too, packed his bags and marched straight out of the remains of Seoul School Of The Performing Arts, had it not been for Beomgyu - great kid, Yeonjun really and truly liked him, even if he was getting the way of Yeonjun's freedom - convincing him not to. Yeonjun was the first to admit he was a bit antagonistic, and definitely reckless, but come on! He couldn't live what was looking to be the rest of his life taking orders from two twins who were younger than him and looked like villains from a teenage chick-flick, rom-com, utter-piece-of-garbage movie. He wanted out, and he wanted out now.Unfortunately, bravado, Yeonjun knew Beomgyu was right. No other tribe was going to take in a MIDZY, and solo kids didn't survive and there was no reason for the two of them to be an exception.;the apocalypse has its downs, and surprisingly its ups as well. Yeonjun's still not happy about it though.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Series: daybreak (or: what happens after the apocalypse?) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629565
Comments: 74
Kudos: 134





	1. Beomgyu + Taehyun

**BEOMGYU**

The first month had been properly hell. Complete and utter chaos.

No one knew what was going on, what had happened, or why the fuck all their parents suddenly wanted to bite their arms - and pretty much every other part of their bodies - off. There were more problems still: where was the wifi? How much longer would they have electricity? Why were all the animals suddenly rabid, alien looking, and about a hundred times stronger? That was Beomgyu's real question - adults be damned he just missed the puppies. Most importantly, no one knew where that giant explosion had come from, why it had smelled more of chemicals than smoke, and why it hadn't affected anyone under the age of 25, at least not physically, mentally, the repercussions were probably endless.

Still, even people above the age of 20 were rare now, a good chunk had stayed decidedly un-zombie like, but a bigger chunk hadn't. Thankfully for Beomgyu, pretty much all the teenagers had come out of the explosion perfectly human. They'd pieced together a few days later that it was probably a nuclear bomb - living in Korea meant, of course, that they were surrounded by child geniuses, so after a little digging around the sight of the original explosion, the fact that it was a result of some sort of nuclear attack was more or less decided upon.

Beomgyu thought that if it _was_ a nuclear bomb then it wasn't particularly effective - sure it had done away with all the adults in the vicinity, but it had left behind all the young people, who in a war, _if this was really a war_ , were really your strongest assets. Regardless, the first month had mostly been panicked yelling and trying to figure what exactly was fucking going on. A month of figuring out how to survive when your loved ones now wanted to literally eat you. However, ever the optimist, Beomgyu supposed it could only get better from here on out. Nothing was worse than being surrounded by rabid animals, rabid adults and panicked teenagers, after all.

Beomgyu was unfortunately, _very very unfortunately_ , wrong. 

Month 2 had the teenagers banding together, which would have been a good thing - had they not banded together in groups that were more reminiscent of high school cliques than functional societies. Nerds with nerds, jocks with jocks, cheerleaders with cheerleaders, that was the state of Seoul a month into the apocalypse, unbalanced and completely unsteady. Each clique had made their own tribe of sorts and claimed their own territory, it almost made Beomgyu cringe, who would've thought that if you left teenagers to themselves without any sort of authority or rules the first thing they would do was sort themselves according to motherfucking high school stereotypes. 

By now, teenagers had dubbed the zombie-fied adults 'ghoulies'. There were only two things you need to know about ghoulies: 1) they want to eat you, and 2) despite what they look like they are _not_ zombies. So no, if you get bitten by a ghoulie, you will not, I repeat _not_ , turn into a ghoulie. Many hadn't figured that out yet, which is why Beomgyu was never surprised anymore when he saw kids with missing fingers and other essential appendages. It made him flinch, sure, but there really wasn't anything he could do now that they were, well, severed.

Month 2 also meant that now there were separate established teams, or as they started calling themselves: tribes. Division, as always, had repercussions - different groups started competing, for food, territory, and a million other things that would soon be in very short supply. Luckily, living in Suburban Seoul meant that they were surrounded by essentials, even if after the explosion everything looked like it had a permanent layer of red-brown dust. Regardless, supply and demand left every group in a permanent state of premature war, escalating tensions and competitiveness, Beomgyu wouldn't be surprised if the 'BLACKPINK' tribe - home to the cheerleaders - attacked 'Neo Culture Technology' - home to the gamers - before a month in the apocalypse was over. 

But honestly? So far the apocalypse hadn't been all _that_ terrible.

That didn't mean it had been good, Beomgyu most definitely wasn't enjoying himself - but he _had_ been incredibly lucky. He'd quickly found shelter in a group of teenagers who'd inhabited the high school that they'd all been attending just days ago, it now housed a good number of kids, about 30 or so. Beomgyu had (very very luckily, as he'd most recently discovered) been fairly popular in school, and despite the fact that he'd never really liked his friends all that much - as was the case with many of "his kind", he had a not so sneaking suspicion that most of his tribe members didn't particularly like each other - he figured that if it had helped him survive the collateral damage and mutated creatures outside then who was he to complain?

Still, Beomgyu was thankful. The school had been overtaken by _those_ kids, you know the ones who you'd never met but still knew seemingly endless details about. Beomgyu had always been told he was one of those, he didn't often see it, anyone who knew Beomgyu knew he was an open book, he always had been - but assumptions were more often than not reputation in high school, and even though his high school days were literally over (he was, you know, _living in it now_ with a bunch of other teenagers hoarding assorted weapons and other not-necessarily _school friendly_ items), he figured that the way teenage society had structured itself post the apocalypse? High School was going to be endless.

It didn't matter though, because whatever status he'd had back in high school (read: about 2 months ago) was enough for the ITZY tribe, because they took him in without a second thought. 

'ITZY', as they'd labelled themselves, was the tribe where every popular kid from suburban Seoul had settled into. Using megawatt smiles and piercing glares they'd usurped a large school building from the STEM Geeks in the 'ATEEZ' tribe, and quickly marked it their own by spray painting a large crown on the building and the surrounding grounds to solidify their territory. No one said anything, not even the jocks from Big Hit who had originally had control over some of the ground they'd claimed. There was nothing more terrifying than a hot self assure teenager of course, and while the jocks may have been hot - and most definitely teenagers - Beomgyu had never quite met one that was happy and confident with themselves, at least not nearly as self-confident as his tribe members.

Sure enough it had taken Yeji and Hyunjin, the two inexplicably ethereal looking twins who had started and now ran the ITZY tribe, one fluttering of their eyelashes and a well time glare for the jocks to hand them over territory tail between their legs. Beomgyu would have been amused, if he wasn't a little disturbed by the whole process, he just wanted to survive and frankly saw no reason for, well, _everything_ else. But again, it didn't matter, because one look at him and he'd received an approving nod from Yeji and a flirtatious smirk from Hyunjin. Beomgyu wasn't stupid, he had a way with people, he was cute, and he was pretty flirty himself - he just never thought any of that would save his life until the apocalypse came about.

Nevertheless, he'd "passed" whatever test the twins had in mind and was rooming with Yeonjun, who had been a senior in Beomgyu's school just last month, in class 9-A.

He liked Yeonjun - A) because he was funny and nice in a sarcastic sort of way and was pretty helpful in general, and B) because for whatever reason Yeonjun could wield a Katana like nobody's business. Beomgyu didn't know why, and frankly he wasn't sure whether or not he _wanted_ to know why Yeonjun could kill a ghoulie with a flick of his wrist while Beomgyu had to painstakingly hack it to pieces with the chainsaw he'd grabbed from his neighbour's house the first time he'd seen a ghoulie. If you're wondering why his neighbour had a chainsaw (and you might be underwhelmed) it was because he was a carpenter. 

Yeonjun had offered to teach him how to use a sword on their first day rooming together, Beomgyu declined, he would be sticking to the chainsaw, thank you very much. The rest of their tribe wasn't so bad either, sure they were all closed off and, for the most part, acted more for self-preservation than anything else, but they weren't _that_ bad (and all in all Beomgyu didn't mind being surrounded by basically a bunch of slytherins everyday, even if he did consider himself a gryffindor). Yeonjun strongly disagreed (even though he was _definitely_ a slytherin), but well, Beomgyu figured he'd always looked to see the good in people. Even people that made him line up once a day and receive tasks from 2 infuriatingly attractive twins (read: Yeji and Hyunjin).

Life in 'ITZY' was regimented to say the least. They woke up to the school alarm at what the clocks said was seven a.m - nobody knew whether the clocks were right anymore especially since all the phones and computers had long stopped working. They'd have breakfast in the school cafeteria, organised by a different group of ITZY members everyday, breakfast ended at eight, from then up till the afternoon the ultimatum was simple: get out there, grab as many resources as you can, don't die, come back to the school building and hand everything you've gathered to Yeji's girlfriend, Lia. They ate lunch at two, later than Beomgyu was used too, and then it was the same thing all over again. They had dinner at nine. Everything after nine was free, meaning that most of the time they got drunk on whatever alcohol they'd gathered during the day. The nights very pretty wild honestly, at least the nights where they partied which wasn't quite everyday, they were teenagers not stupid (although Beomgyu knew for a fact that those two things weren't mutually exclusive).

All in all, Beomgyu didn't hate life as a MIDZY (what all members of the tribe were called). It was kinda boring and the twins were a bit much, but the tribe let Beomgyu survive, and he was cool with that.

Yeonjun wasn't.

(Remember what Beomgyu said, _slytherin_.)

They'd talked about the whole thing enough times, in the haven of class 9-A. It wasn't quite talking though, mostly Yeonjun just complained about the twins and ITZY and how bullshit it all was. Beomgyu would just nod from his mattress, usually struggling to scrape muck and dirt off the blade of his chain saw. Sometimes Yeonjun would consider leaving, "we'll join a different tribe!" He'd say. "The jocks or maybe the gamers? I hear they're quite fun." Beomgyu always gave him the same perplexed look, "you and me both know the jocks are just as bad as these guys," he'd say, "and we also know that NCT would never take in a MIDZY, not since Yeji usurped the supermarket in their territory and kicked Donghyuck Lee in the face." Yeonjun would groan and slam himself into his bed or chuck his katana against the wall. "Well, maybe we can go solo then!" He'd say, "just you and me!" He let go of the idea before Beomgyu even opened his mouth, "yeah I know, I know, you don't need to say it," he'd say, "solo kids don't survive."

Beomgyu would just smile at the older boy sadly. He was right, they didn't. 

*** * ***

**TAEHYUN**

The moment the first tribe was formed, Taehyun knew that he wouldn't be joining.

The whole so-called-system was altogether entirely ridiculous. Taehyun didn't want to seam holier-than-thou but he'd always been a bit pretentious and never one to not point out stupidity. Turning on each other based on the status quo teen movies have taught you is about the stupidest thing Taehyun had ever heard, and unfortunately, seen. It made no sense, there was no balance in these tribes - who from the the cheerleader tribe was going to be a medic? Who from the nerd tribe was going to be the muscle? Who from the jock tribe was going to be the brains? And sure, giving into this thought process meant that Taehyun was being sucked into his own preconceived notions on what these "separate types" of people were actually like, but Taehyun's hunches were very rarely wrong.

Taehyun was perfectly content surviving the apocalypse on his own, thank you very very much. In fact he was pretty damn good at it. He'd always had good survival instincts, and his dad had taught him how to hunt back when they still lived in the countryside - something he had over the rest of city-kid peers. Plus, he'd managed to find a katana-looking sword thingy and had more or less gotten the hang of it. Plus, even if the atmosphere in his apartment was no longer quite livable, he'd managed to find shelter pretty much every night and in fairly decent places as well. Also, Taehyun was strong, he didn't quite look it - he wasn't short but he wasn't exactly tall either, but he could definitely beat you up if he wanted to. Either way, the apocalypse wasn't treating him badly.

Honestly? That was an understatement.

Taehyun was kind of having the time of his life in the apocalypse.

As all good gen-z kids he was fairly detached from his parents, the fact that they wanted to eat him now was a bummer, sure, but not much more than that, so he'd been sad for a couple days but about 3 days in and well, that was that, and it wasn't like he was the only one who'd lost his parents. Also no adults meant no rules, and Taehyun liked living like this, a lot. He could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted (granted it was with the restrictions placed by the fact that he was living through the literal apocalypse).

Being solo was good too, he wasn't tied down by any of all that 'tribe' shit - and if he ever got involved it was always with small sections, like that one time the jocks in 'Big-Hit' had sent the golf-club kids after him (really? The golf club kids?) to recruit him - Taehyun had played soccer in high school, he figured The Jocks in Big Hit had thought he was one of them. Needless to say, one of them had returned without a finger.Taehyun only felt a little bad. But all in all, life in the apocalypse was pretty good. It was fun, it was chill, it was altogether enjoyable.

At least it had been until Kai and Soobin decided to stick to him. 

If it was a normal time for, well, the world, Taehyun wouldn't have minded all that much. Except it wasn't. It was, however, the literal apocalypse. Taehyun was, as he'd told his 'companions' countless times, an every man for himself kind of guy. Even if both Kai and Soobin were helpful in their own right - Soobin, being an ex-kung fu movie fanatic or something, could use the swords he always had strapped to his back like nobody's business, and Kai - despite the fact that he looked like a puppy that could do no wrong, was incredibly smart in his own right, resourceful was the word, always ready with a quick fix.

Honestly, Taehyun just liked being on his own. Not that it mattered, Kai and Soobin weren't exactly fucking off no matter how many times Taehyun asked them to.

Speaking of fucking off - currently Taehyun was surrounded by the apocalypse's worst enemy: ghoulies.

"Crap," Taehyun said, hacking off as many ghoulies as he could at a time, "they're fucking everywhere!" He thrust his swords into a ghoulie with a particularly heavy looking, probably painful, handbag when he heard yelling. "Don't curse!" Kai shreeked from, um, somewhere, it was hard to make out where any of them were when they were about 12 ghoulies surrounding them, "where's Soobin-Hyung when you need him?"

Kai's voice rang loudly over the hacking, Taehyun swinging his sword around madly while the younger chucked the makeshift grenades he'd managed to make while they'd been stuck at the pharmacie avoiding ghoulies a few days ago. Despite Kai's wishes Taehyun found himself letting out a stream of curses. "I swear to god I'm going to kill that tall fucker the next time I fucking see him!" He roared over the ghoulies, each repeating the same mundane phrases over and over again (ghoulies can only say the last sentence they said before dying, for example, the lady Taehyun was currently attacking was ceaselessly repeating the line "don't forget to pick Jaejun up from school").

Suddenly the words: "that's tall fucker Hyung to you" entered Taehyun's periphery and Soobin's head stuck out from the mass of ghoulies. He always did, again, Taehyun wasn't short, he was a solid 5ft.10 which in Korea was above average height, unfortunately for him Soobin was 6ft.1. Kai was about 6 feet tall too so all in all Taehyun's reasons to get them to leave were piling up. Regardless, in situations like this Soobin was definitely helpful.

About seven minutes in and the three of them had successfully gotten rid of pretty much every ghoulie in the vicinity. Thank god too, Kai was almost out of grenades and a ghoulie had been _this_ close to biting Taehyun's arm and he really didn't want to deal with that right now. The trio quickly entered the shop, it was one of those corner-stores, stacked with cigarettes and other "essentials" - mostly small things people needed during travel, snacks, lighters, lip-balms, etcetera etcetera. Taehyun scanned the store as he heard Kai yelling at the older somewhere in the back.

("Where did you go Hyung! We could've straight up died-" "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I ran into some stronger than normal ghoulies I had to do something!").

Taehyun intervened into their conversation, "Who's territory are we in right now, someone friendly I hope."

"Yeah, no," Soobin said quickly, voice strained and tired, "I saw a crown sprayed onto the side of this one building which means-"

"We're in MIDZY territory," Taehyun finished, sighing deeply as he cleared out enough space in the store to set down a couple sleeping bags. ITZY was probably the least friendly of the clans. Taehyun had gone to high school with Yeji and Hyunjin Huang, they'd been 2 years senior to him, they'd ruled JYPH with an iron fist then, and they governed the ITZY Tribe with an iron fist now. Taehyun had never been immensely popular in school or anything like that, but he definitely hadn't been unpopular, he'd been on the football team and all that after all, he just hadn't quite been at the same level as the members of the ITZY tribe - and if there was any tribe Taehyun was wary of, it was them. There was nothing a person with confidence and power couldn't do - and the MIDZYs had both of those in copious amounts, along with the knowledge that they were, well, cool. The conventional, high school, definition of cool either way. "Well there's nothing we can do now," Taehyun continued.

"Ugh," Kai whined, "MIDZYs are the scariest ones, like i can take a jock or even a BLINK, but these guys are scary!"

"I swear," Soobin said, "those leaders of theirs could kill me just with those glares! God those are fucking chilling!"

"Well, I'm still sleeping here tonight - if you two wanna leave before a MIDZY catches us and tortures us or something, you're more than welcome." Taehyun, trying his best put in as much malice and snark as he possibly could into the sentence. It didn't work - with these two? It never did. Soobin brushed him off with a roll of his eyes, "I'm going to raid the snacks,"he said, completely ignoring Taehyun's propositions. "Yeah, and I'm gonna see if they have anything that could help me rebuild my grenade supply!" Kai exclaimed, inapropriately happy.

"What about the literal lighters in front you, dumbass-"

"Don't curse!"

Taehyun drowned the squabbling out as he set down his sleeping bag on the granite floors, stained red with the dust the bomb had created. He stepped out of the corner stone, leaning against it's door and watching as the sun set on the apocalypse. Bathing post-apocalyptic, suburban Seoul in a red much stronger and much, much prettier than the reddish-brown dust thst had seemingly drenched the city. Taehyun grabbed the pen he always kept in his pocket and scratched a line down the side of his pants, alongside the 45 other lines he'd been sketching on to keep track of the days.

They were officially halfway through month 2 of the apocalypse. 


	2. Yeonjun + Kai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Um hi?" Kai said intelligently, looking at the two strangers.
> 
> One looked back, confused but visibly amused, the other looked tired, eyes scrunching shut as he grabbed at his hair, annoyed, he mumbled words that sounded suspiciously like curses under his breath and Kai resisted the urge to throw a 'mind your language' at the guy. He didn't, one of them was holding a chainsaw and maybe Kai didn't have the best survival instincts but he knew not to mess with people who carried around chainsaws like backpacks.
> 
> "Today took a turn for the interesting, huh Hyung?" The shorter one (the one with the chainsaw!) said.
> 
> The taller ones eyes twitched, and he groaned loudly, "this was supposed to be just you getting a snack and now we find a fucking non-MIDZY member on our territory," he hissed under his breath, "this would only happen with you I swear to god." The shorter one rolled his eyes playfully, "Calm down, Hyung." He said, voice cheery, "you've never cared about tribe rules anyway - plus it's just one kid."
> 
> Kai chuckled bashfully, hand reaching out to scratch the back of his neck, "well actually-"
> 
> The taller boy, Yeonjun, screamed in frustration before Kai got a chance to finish his sentence.

**YEONJUN**

Yeonjun hated it here, he really fucking hated it here.

He just wanted out at this point, fuck ITZY, fuck the MIDZYs, fuck the Hwang Twins, and frankly? Fuck everyone.

He hated the snootiness, he hated the god-complexes, he hated the twins - hell, at this point he even hated himself. He would've left days ago too, packed his bags and marched straight out of the remains of Seoul School Of The Performing Arts, had it not been for Beomgyu - great kid, bless him, Yeonjun really and truly liked him, even if he _was_ getting the way of Yeonjun's freedom - convincing him not to. Yeonjun was the first to admit he was a bit antagonistic, and definitely reckless, but come on! He couldn't live what was looking to be the rest of his life taking orders from two twins who were younger than him and looked like villains from a teenage chick-flick, rom-com, utter-piece-of-garbage movie. He wanted out, and he wanted out now.

Unfortunately, for all his anger and bravado, Yeonjun knew Beomgyu was right. No other tribe was going to take in a MIDZY, and solo kids didn't survive and there was no reason for the two of them to be an exception. Curse Beomgyu and his weirdly logical reasoning - weird because it came from who was possibly the most stupidly-optimistic person Yeonjun had ever met, actually that wasn't the right phrase, Beomgyu wasn't stupid, he was optimistic but definitely not stupid. The kid was hard to place - he wasn't naive, although he came off that way, Yeonjun had seen him blindly gut enough ghoulies to know that wasn't the case. He was just kind of, yielding. Like there wasn't any room for rebellion or defiance in his life, he just kind of went with it, took what was given to him and didn't ask for anymore.

If times were normal Yeonjun would have admired it - except times were not normal and while, yes, they needed to survive and ITZY was definitely helping in that regard, they also had to live dammit! Make their own decisions, live their own lives, not bow down to the demands of Hyunjin and Yeji Hwang as they looked down at those that had been their peers mere days ago as subjects. God what Yeonjun wouldn't do to stand up right now, in the middle of their daily address, flip the twins off, grab Beomgyu by the arm, and run away till they found somewhere and someone else to survive alongside.

"Okay so Lia's printed out the task list of today and as usual it's down by the cafeteria," Hyunjin said, reaching the end of their morning address, condescending smirk etched permanently onto his face as he looked down at the rest of the MIDZYs. Yeji, as always, stood by his side with a stony expression on her face, eyes piercing and lips pursed, Yeonjun didn't think he'd ever seen her smile. Still, he liked her a whole lot better than her brother, at least she wasn't pretending that whatever her, her brother and tribe were doing wasn't utterly stupid and more than a little soulless. At least she wasn't like Hyunjin, under the guise of pleasantness and general flirtations, pretending he didn't boss around a hoard of teenagers everyday. 

From next to him Beomgyu nodded, expression bored, "Yeah yeah," he muttered quietly under his breath, "same as always." Yeonjun chuckled quietly, maybe Beomgyu wasn't as angry as Yeonjun was, but he was definitely getting just as bored. "I keep telling you we should leave-" Yeonjun started, "Not the time or the place, Hyung!" Beomgyu hissed, cutting him off. Yeonjun supposed he was right - he wanted out but he definitely wasn't looking for a fight. Not that he would be opposed to knocking Hyunjin's teeth in. When the twins finished their address and Yeji's second-in command, Jeon Somi, ushered them out of the auditorium to the cafeteria. Yeonjun quickly found himself and Beomgyu on the list - well, at least they'd be doing one of the more fun Hwang-mandated tasks today.

"Looks like we're on in-territory explore duty," Beomgyu said looking over the list, visibly relieved.

He'd been on kitchen duty yesterday and nothing, _nothing_ , was worse than kitchen duty. 

"Yup," Yeonjun responded, popping the 'p', "get that bloody chainsaw of yours and lets get this shit over with."

Beomgyu, despite Yeonjun's repeated offers to teach the younger how to use a katana, still insisted on using that goddamn chainsaw of his. Yeonjun didn't know where he got, frankly, he didn't want to ask - and while the weapon was admittedly incredibly helpful when it came to gutting ghoulies, it was a whole pain to clean up, Beomgyu had cut himself on the metal far too many times. Thankfully the ITZY tribe had a pharmacie in it's territory and they'd managed to find a loaded tetanus shot a week into the apocalypse, so hopefully Beomgyu wouldn't be dying due to a chainsaw induced cut anytime soon. Yeonjun himself only knew how to use a katana due to a lifetime of snooty parents making him do fencing and secret love for old school kung-fu movies he'd shared with his ex-boyfriend.

Speaking of ex-boyfriend - _no_.

We don't talk about him.

In-territory exploration entailed two things - 1) explore claimed MIDZY territory to see if you can find any new resources for the tribe, and 2) the main aim, make sure no unwelcome outsiders are on MIDZY ground - this was opposed to general exploration duty, which entailed exploring far beyond MIDZY territory to look for new land and new resources. Non-MIDZYs in ITZY territory wasn't really ever a problem though, if there's one thing the ITZY tribe was it was intimidating, so in the last week not one single person had attempted to 'illegally' use MIDZY land - or at the very least, they hadn't been caught. Nevertheless, the Hwang Twins insisted on it and _who was Yeonjun to disagree with them_. 

By the time him and Beomgyu got out of the school building the sky was red, as it usually was during evenings in the apocalypse. They grabbed a golf-cart out of the plethora of vehicles the tribe had accumulated since it's conception - including multiple motorcycles and dirt-bikes, a good number of golf-carts, a couple jeeps, and a whole ass truck with an open back and everything which the Hwang Twins had reserved especially for "special occasions" (i.e when they went to usurp more territory from other clans and needed to look particularly intimidating). The golf carts in particular had been acquired from the golf-club leg of the 'Big Hit' tribe a.k.a the jocks - they'd come into MIDZY territory looking to sort out some sort of deal and get some of their territory back, needless to say they'd come back with only one golf cart versus the original seven they'd come with, and apparently one of them had got a very painful looking hair cut. Painful because it extended beyond his hair to his sideburns and, well, half his ear.

That's just the apocalypse for you. 

The constant threat of death mixed with testosterone and - whatever the female equivalent of testosterone is - does wonders to the teenage psyche.

Yeonjun got into the drivers seat as they set off. Beomgyu idly eyed their surroundings, Yeonjun didn't even do that, he would pretend he was doing the Hwang's bidding but he wasn't going to go much farther than pretending. The weather was about as nice as it could be in the apocalypse, the sky - usually an angry red or a murky brown - was more of a sunset-like orange with the clouds accumulating overhead looking more yellow and red than their typically intimidating grey-brown colour, the artist in Yeonjun appreciated it, the anarchist in him scoffed. "Nice day, huh?" Beomgyu said, leaning back against his seat and stretching his arm outside the cart. Yeonjun chuckled, looking up at the clouds, "Until it starts raining? Yeah, sure." Beomgyu just rolled his eyes, mumbling something about 'slytherins' under his breath ruefully. 

There really wasn't much of ITZY territory they hadn't seen already, a pharmacy, 2 grocery stores, a row of shops full of clothes and knick knacks and books, the school, and a bunch of abandoned roads and houses. It was a empty part of town, and as Yeonjun reached the farther ends of their territory there was barely anything but abandoned roads and the odd house, each with a large crown spray painted on it signifying which tribe they "belonged" to.

"God, I never thought the end of the world would get boring," Beomgyu said, "scary and altogether horrifying maybe, but here I am, disappointed, because I don't get to live out my post-apocalyptic y/a novel fantasies." Yeonjun laughed, shaking his head as he watched Beomgyu settle into a pout, "I'd say living with a bunch of hot teenagers and carrying around a chainsaw everyday is about as post-apocalyptic y/a novel as it gets."

"Not if it's boring!"

"Personally I think infuriating is a better word for the apocalypse - and you."

"Shut up, Hyung."

They continued driving, discovering - as usual - nothing and no one new, granted they hadn't really tried, some ITZY members were so determined to please the Hwang Twins they'd go and check in each house. Fucking losers. Just as Yeonjun was about to turn back Beomgyu interrupted him, "Wait stop here," he said suddenly. Yeonjun raised a brow but stopped the jeep nonetheless, "what's up?" He asked. Beomgyu shrugged, "Nothing, there's just a corner-store here and since the tribe doesn't usually grab stuff from this part of the territory just yet I'm gonna go and see what they have - I could really go for some junk food you know?"

Yeonjun scoffed, staring down at the ground littered with ghoulie remains "Beomgyu, this place looks like it just went through a ghoulie massacre are you sure you wanna get down here?" Beomgyu, being Beomgyu, paused to stare at the ghoulie remains for a second before he promptly shrugged off the warning and ventured forth. Yeonjun sighed, "also, we're going to be basically living on junk food in a month." he added, a final effort before he knew he would have to give in.

It was true about the junk food though, soon they would be eating nothing but that. Yeah the twins had gone out of their way to find produce once the tribe had been established, and they had, but the realisation that that stuff would go bad soon enough was imminent, so sooner or later they were going to have to start surviving on canned food, starches, and preservatives. At least until they're fellow MIDZY and resident child-genius, Choi Julia, figured out how to grow vegetables that weren't potatoes in the current state of things. But Yeonjun figured Beomgyu was kind of right, the tribe had been trying to make the most of their limited supply of vegetables, preserving the meat because even that wouldn't go bad as fast, either way Yeonjun hadn't not had a vegetable since, well, before the apocalypse.

Beomgyu ignored him and promptly jumped out of the cart with an enthusiastic "c'mon Hyung!" Chainsaw in hand and smile stupidly brightly, considering it was over a corner-store in the most boring part of ITZY territory. But Yeonjun was weak and Beomgyu was nothing if not endearing, so with a sigh and roll of his eyes he followed the boy out the car and towards the corner store, feet dragging behind him as he strapped on his katana. Better safe than sorry, ghoulies could really be lurking anywhere. 

It wasn't too long till he figured that ghoulies were going to be the least of his problems.

*** * ***

**KAI**

Before the apocalypse Kai had been a morning person. He'd wake up at 7, even if it wasn't a school day, eat his breakfast, occasionally take a walk with his puppy Mint and maybe his parents. It was nice, Kai liked mornings, he liked the blue skies and manufactured trees of suburban Seoul, he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life like that, taking early morning walks with his dog, getting ice-cream with his parents, going for breakfast picnics under the morning sun. Life was going to be great.

Well, that plan had gone to shit now, because his parents had been zombie-fied and turned into human eating ghoulies, and Mint had mutated into some rabid beagle creature with four eyes and vampire teeth, and now all three of them wanted to, well, eat him. Talk about a change in lifestyle.

Well, he figured morning in ITZY territory wasn't all that bad. It was better than being in Big Hit territory at least, like he'd been during the first few days of the apocalypse. At least he'd found Soobin Hyung there, but aside from that ITZY territory was infinitely better, because at least it wasn't literally crawling with jocks who'd trashed the entire territory in a matter of weeks. At least they'd found a nice quiet area in ITZY territory, it was because the Jocks operated by strength in numbers and therefore had numbers going over a hundred, ITZY only housed maybe 40 members max, they were this powerful because well, popular kids, but with great power comes more power to leach off of unnoticed and Kai was going to do exactly that. As a result Jock territory was filled to brim with testosterone fueled teenage boys, and ITZY territory would have seamed abandoned had it not been for the crowns spray painted everywhere.

Kai was the second to wake that morning, with Soobin still asleep in the backroom of the corner store they'd settled into after last nights ghoulie attack and Taehyun god knows where doing whatever he did every morning. His sleeping bag was still on the store's floor though, so Kai knew that despite all his complaining about Kai and Soobin forcing their way into his life, he still hadn't quite run off. Kai, ever the optimist, was pretty sure he wouldn't - sure Taehyun was grouchy, and angry, and maybe just a little bit mean, but he was a good person, there was a reason Kai had clung on and not let go after Taehyun saved him and Soobin during their escape from the 'Big Hit' tribe, even if the shorter male writhed in his grip and was trying his best to get out.

Kai figured he just needed to get out of his shell a little, that's all. 

Soobin, however, slept like a baby despite being a whole two years older than his companions and their self appointed dad. 

Kai would let him sleep, he always did, mostly because sometimes Soobin looked like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders, even if he was only technically "looking after" (his words, not Kai and Taehyun's) two boys. He was also constantly running away from his old tribe, and Kai frankly didn't want to think about what would happen if they caught him, so yeah, Soobin could rest as long as their lives weren't in eminent danger. 

Neither Kai nor Soobin knew what Taehyun did in the morning's, Soobin figured he just went exploring since his sword and skateboard were always gone with him, but Kai liked indulging his fantasies. Taehyun had appeared out of nowhere, a knight in shining armour in their lives despite being a good three or four inches shorter than both Kai and Soobin. He was tough, and he looked it too - at least after you got a good look at him, It was just an aura, like he knew that no matter what happened to anyone else he'd survive. It oddly endeared Kai, he was growing to almost idolise the dude despite the fact that they had mere months between them in terms of age.

Well, in Kai's mind age was just a number, and Taehyun was obviously wise beyond his years. And don't get him wrong, Kai was definitely smart too - just in a creative, I-read-science-books-and-know-cool-chemistry-experiments-that-help-me-make-low-grade-grenades sort of way, instead of whatever the hell Taehyun was.

Kai laced up his sneakers, caked with dirt already despite the fact that they were only a month old - the Apocalypse did that to, well, everything, and headed out of the store, stretching his arms over his head and letting out a sigh. That was when he heard it, the distinct sound of motors - was that a golf cart? And why was it fast approaching? Shit was that a crown-

Crap. 

The last thing he needed right now was to be discovered by MIDZYs.

Kai quickly reentered the store, slamming the door shut as quickly as he could and crouching down next to the door. He kept the knife Soobin had given him in case of danger ready, he didn't think he'd ever be able to use it on another human being, but the human brain could trigger all sorts of things when it was in danger, things it really needed to trigger. Still, Kai was firmly an optimist, so he figured what were the chances that of all the places that golf cart could stop at, it would choose a tiny little corner store? It was already marked with the ITZY insignia of a crown so they didn't need to explore it and claim it or anything like that. Yeah, everything was going to work out just fine. Yeah. All good.

And then there was a: "Beomgyu, this place looks like it just went through a ghoulie massacre are you sure you wanna get down here?"

And a: "c'mon hyung!"

Fuck, Kai was fucked. 

He stayed there, unmoving. He wouldn't wake up Soobin, hopefully if the two men - whose footsteps were gradually getting louder and louder and more and more terrifying - were hostile and decided to take Kai away or something along those lines, then they wouldn't look for any allies and take away Soobin as well. Still, the anxiety rolled down him like beads of sweat. Kai tried to steady his breathing and clutched onto his knife. Even though Kai's brain yelled at him that they were just teenagers like him, it also recognized that they were MIDZYs, notoriously ruthless and cold - Kai had never been good with people like that. 

And then the doors swung open.

Kai clamped his mouth shut trying his best not to make a sound. He was hiding in plain sight, but for now neither boy had noticed him.

They were both fairly tall, probably shorter than Kai himself but tall nonetheless, and in true MIDZY fashion unbelievably, intimidatingly, attractive. One had bold, striking features, full lips and dark eyes with a crown of short blue-green hair and an expression that could have been anything from annoyed to anxious. The other boy, who stood just a couple inches below boy number one, had brown hair that fell over his forehead in slight waves and delicate, almost feminine, features that juxtaposed against his sharp bone structure. His eyes were wide and there was a smile etched on his face as he took in the store.

Both boys walked right passed Kai, and Kai had to use all his strength to hold in his sigh of relief. They explored the store, thankfully neither boy turned towards where Kai was sitting, crouched down sideways next to the entrance to the store, trying his best to make himself as small as humanly possibly. He squeezed his eyes shut, ignoring every sign in his brain telling him not to - no survival instincts remember? The boys, still unaware of Kai's presence sauntered around the store.

"Oh my god Hyung they have granola bars, do you have any idea how long it's been since I had a granola bar?" One voice said, amiable and cheery. "I thought the whole point of us getting down here was so that you could grab junk food or something?" A new voice, softer, but with an annoyed edge to it. "Yeah, yeah whatever, just let me look around, I haven't been to one of these in so long," the first voice said, stretching the 'o' in 'so'. Kai would have laughed if he wasn't currently shitting breaks and scared for his life.

"Can you just pick something up so we can get back to the school before Thing 1 and Thing 2 decide to wring our necks."

"Okay fine, fine, I'll get some chocolate or something. They're usually by the counter, Hyung can you just- oh."

Shit. Kai squeezed his eyes harder. _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit._ Well, there was still hope, maybe the guy had only let out that 'oh' because he saw something cool. Yeah, that was probably it, Kai was fine, he was just fine-

"Well, hi there!" Said a cheery voice, evidently close to Kai this time. Kai's eyes burst open, met with the sight of the dark haired boy crouched down in front of him sitting on his haunches, with a not malicious but evidently surprised look on his face. Behind him stood the taller boy, face settled into a frown as he stared down at Kai, eyebrows woven together and lips pursed. Oh no, he looked mad. He looked really mad.

So Kai did what anyone in his situation would do: let out a loud, entirely un-manly, shriek.

This obviously took the two boys by surprise because the taller one quickly grabbed his friend and pulled him away from Kai with a "shit, Gyu, he has a knife!" Kai stopped screaming at that, eyes drifting to the knife clutched in his fingers and promptly letting it fall to the ground with a yelp from him and a crash from the contact between the knife and the floor. Followed by complete and utter silence. Kai stared at the two boys, and they stared right back at him, eyes wide and a little anxious, but more confused than scared. After a prolonged beat of silence, the shorter boy melted into a pensive, but unfairly charming, smile.

"Hi there," he said, voice soft but guarded, small smile disarming.

"Um hi?" Kai said back intelligently, gaze unwavering as he stared at the two strangers.

The dark haired boy still looked confused ,but now there was a visible hint of amusement on his lips. The taller one looked close to a breakdown, eyes scrunching shut as he grabbed at his blue-green hair, aggravated. He mumbled words that sounded suspiciously like curses under his breath and Kai resisted the urge to throw a 'mind your language' at the guy. He didn't, he'd just noticed the shorter boy was holding a chainsaw, and maybe Kai didn't have the best survival instincts but even he knew that no matter how disarming someone's smile may be, it was probably best not to mess with people who carried around chainsaws like they were backpacks.

"Today took a turn for the interesting, huh Hyung?" Chainsaw boy said.

The taller ones eyes twitched, and he groaned loudly. He looked away from Kai facing his friend with a deep frown on his face, "this was supposed to be just you getting a snack and now we find a fucking non-MIDZY member on ITZY territory," he hissed under his breath, "this would only happen with you I swear to god." The shorter one rolled his eyes playfully, "Calm down, Hyung." He said, voice cheery, "you've never cared about tribe rules anyway - now isn't looking like a good time to start." He turned back to Kai, still pressed against the floor and stepped closer, small smile back on his face as he held out a hand. "You okay there?"

Kai looked at the hand hesitantly, before grabbing it and getting up with the boys help. Kai let go of his hand and the stranger looked up at him with shock, probably not expecting him to be as tall as he was. Kai give him a small, shy, smile and uttered out a thank you, ducking his head down to avoid both boys eyes. He saw Chainsaw boy look back at his fried, "Hyung he's so cute can we keep him!" 

Kai's head shot up, opening his mouth to speak but before he could the blue haired boy interrupted him. "Beomgyu," he said, voice sharp as he addressed his friend, "You get that he's trespassing right? This has never happened before! God knows what Hyunjin and Yeji would do if they found him!" The shorter boy - Beomgyu, Kai figured - settled into a frown, he stared at Kai for a second, "how old are you?" He asked suddenly. 

"Beomgyu-" The blue haired boy started, voice tired.

"Sixteen," Kai responded, before the other stranger could go on. He had no idea why he was telling the two boys this, he had no reason to still be there, and he had no interest in joining the ITZY tribe either. Still, the protective flash in the taller boys eyes as he processed Kai's age, and the worry that took over Beomgyu's face, were oddly comforting. "Yeonjun Hyung," the brunette said, voice sincere, looking back at his friend with piercing eyes, "he's a _kid_ , and he's out her alone- Kai coughed loudly, interrupting the boy, his hand reached out to scratch the back of his neck bashfully.

"Well actually there's three of us-"

The taller boy, Yeonjun apparently, groaned (read: practically screamed) in frustration before Kai got a chance to finish his sentence.

"You're telling me there's not one, not two, but _three_ non MIDZYs on MIDZY territory. Oh my god I always wanted out of this place but not because I was hoarding fugitives!" Kai opened his mouth to say something about how he technically wasn't hoarding anyone just yet and fugitives really felt like too strong a word, but he clamped his mouth shut once Beomgyu quickly shook his head at him when he opened his mouth, eyes alarmed and teeth clenched.

And then the chaos peaked because Taehyun chose that exact moment to burst into through the doors, still on his skateboard which came to a screeching halt as he entered the corner store and saw the sight before him. _And then_ the doors to the backroom flung open revealing a tired and almost angry looking Soobin, who yelled, " _What the fuck is going on in fucking here-"_ _And then_ silence as they all caught each others eyes. The tension was strong enough to slice through metal. And then the tension peaked because Soobin caught sight of Yeonjun - who was still shocked by Taehyun's sudden appearance considering the boy had screeched to a halt inches away from him - and promptly turned ghost white. "Yeonjun Hyung..?" He let out with a shaky breath.

Yeonjun whirled around, catching sight of Soobin and before anyone could say anything he let out a long, loud, prolonged yell of "FUCK!"

Silence.

_Again._

And then, "can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on in here?"

Beomgyu looked back and forth between Yeonjun and Soobin, then at Kai, then at Taehyun, and then back at Yeonjun. "I have no idea who you are," he said, gesturing to Taehyun, "but you're asking a very, _very_ , good question."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im do a chaptered fic after a really long time so i've basically forgotten how to do these. I hope you guys liked this mess of a second chapter though :)


	3. Soobin + Taehyun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh," Beomgyu said a little later, making Soobin flinch and finally look away from the blue haired boy, "this is the infamous ex, huh?"

**SOOBIN**

It had been a minute since Soobin had last seen Yeonjun.

It was jarring, even though Yeonjun looked exactly the same as that day on the football field, before the explosion had happened. Hair glossy, skin clean, face moisturised, he looked no different than he had weeks ago - and Soobin, for the first time since the end of the world, felt self conscious (and yes, he knew it was the last thing he should be worrying about, given the apocalypse and what not, but how could he not when Yeonjun looked as good as he always did and Soobin knew that he himself looked like, well, this).

If anything, Yeonjun's eyes were a little dimmer and his hair was a little faded. The clothes he wore weren't as fashion forward as his usual style, didn't have as many colours or cool patterns as they used too - but Yeonjun still looked mind-bogglingly stunning, as beautiful as he always did and always had and always would. The prettiest boy in the whole, entire, world - although, Soobin figured he may have been a little biased when it come to Choi Yeonjun.

Soobin knew full well that he looked, for lack of of a better word, like shit - he felt like it too, so at least he was consistent. He’d fled his last tribe with a chain around his foot and multiple death threats via their tribe leader who at this point had been driven to the brink \madness, and he’d been living off a single ratty t-shirt and a pair of dirty track pants for what? Almost 2 weeks now? Ever since he’d fled the jocks. So really he couldn’t be expected to look as, well, put together as Yeonjun did just then. The difference between them was jarring, especially since Yeonjun had an equally clean, equally put together, pretty boy by his side, and the two of them were surrounded by Taehyun and Kai, who looked terrible in their own right.

Not as terrible as Soobin, but terrible enough for there to be a noticeable difference.

Beyond all that, the silence was deafening.

Yeonjun's eyes were zeroed in on him, silent, unmoving, _angry_. Soobin was doing everything in his power to look away - he couldn't. Kai, Taehyun, and Yeonjun's friend were alternating between exchanging glances amongst the three of them and staring at Yeonjun and Soobin, confusion evident on all three of their faces. Taehyun had picked up his skateboard from where it had stopped near Yeonjun's feet and was clutching it to his side, other hand trained on his katana as if fighting could break out at any moment - which, knowing Yeonjun and his spitfire personality, was a valid belief. Kai looked a little worried, attempting to shield himself behind Yeonjun's brown haired friend, despite the fact that Kai was a good 3 or 4 inches taller. The friend in question was just standing there confused, eyes staring inquisitively at Yeonjun.

"Oh," he said a little later, making Soobin flinch and finally look away from the blue haired boy, "this is the infamous ex, huh?"

Yeonjun pulled his gaze away from Soobin with a sigh, the anger from before seemingly gone - knowing Yeonjun, it was more likely hidden. He turned to his friend, "Come on, Beomgyu," he said, voice so soft Soobin could have missed it if it wasn't for the apocalypses near constant state of silence, "we should go." The friend's - Beomgyu's? - eyes widened, "Hyung," he said, voice firm and soft all at once, looking up at Yeonjun with big eyes, "You know we can't do that, not not now." He gestured around, first at Kai, then Taehyun and then, finally, at Soobin. His voice was impossibly soft, and it grew softer at every word. "I can't do this right now," Yeonjun said shaking his head, he placed a hand on Beomgyu's shoulder, "I'm going to sit in the golf cart for a couple minutes okay," he said, "I'll be back in a bit." 

With those words Yeonjun walked out of the store, head held down in a way that seemed entirely un-Yeonjun like, his feet dragging behind him. 

Soobin didn't know what to do, he never really did - he was always just a little lost. Yeonjun used to always tell him it was his biggest flaw before the world had ended, he'd always punctuate the sentence with a: "don't worry, I still love you though, you're just sort of a mess." Soobin knew the 'sort of a mess' part still applied to him, he was doubtful of the 'I still love you' part - even though he himself was still very, very much in love with the older boy. He stared at Yeonjun's retreating figure through the corner stores doors, he wanted to follow him out there, explain himself, tell the other why he left, how he had no option, how they forced him, but the short gaze Beomgyu sent his way, eyes sharp and lips pursed, told him now wasn't the time.

Beomgyu sighed, heading over the stores checkout counter and sitting himself down on the worn out surface. He crossed his legs under him, leaning an arm onto his knee and massaging his forehead. "Why'd you three have to choose ITZY of all territories," he laughed under his breath, before looking up to make eye contact with Soobin and sending him a smile so small it was practically not there, "Yeonjun Hyung always said you had a penchant for being in the wrong place at the wrong time but I didn't think it happened in such an unsubtle way." Taehyun put down his skateboard, eyebrows pursed, "I'm sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all, "but I have never been this confused in my life," he turned to Beomgyu, "who even are you? And how do you and the blue guy know Hyung."

"Well, I don't know tall boy over here," Beomgyu said, gesturing dismissively in Soobin's direction, "I just know that he dated my friend - which is how, what did you call him? Blue Guy? - knows him," Beomgyu swung his long legs off the counter, "as for who I am it really should be obvious now - although I have no idea who _you_ are, skater boy." Beomgyu had a half blank look on his face, he also looked half amused despite the tenseness of the current situation. Beomgyu's eyes were pinned on Taehyun and Taehyun was looking right back, head held high and eyes stormy as they always were.

"Haha," Kai said awkwardly, attempting to break the silence, he succeeded, also breaking Beomgyu and Taehyun's little staring competition, "well this is Taehyun," he said, gesturing towards the boy, "he used to be a solo traveller until about a week ago, he skateboards and has a cool sword." Kai then turned to the second boy, "and this is Beomgyu Hyung, he's, um, I don't really know anything about you actually-"

"Is he going to be alright?" Soobin asked, cutting into the trios conversation.

Soon there were three pairs of eyes on him, one confused, and two calculating. Beomgyu's frown deepened, "Shouldn't you know?" He said, voice hard and face reverting back to blankness as he stared Soobin down, for a boy so strangely pretty, he sure was ridiculously threatening - although it was characteristic of those from the ITZY tribe, "I was under the impression that you'd been dating for years before you left him."

Taehyun and Kai spun to look at him, and Soobin had the decency to look guilty because, god, he was. He was ready to grovel at Yeonjun's feet, plead for the older boy to just let him explain himself, tell him how he didn't have a choice, how he'd suffered for his consequences dreadfully, how he'd not once stopped regretting it. But this was Yeonjun, Soobin loved him to much for him to be the kind of person who'd want to see him plead on his knees. Yeonjun would just be sad, and he'd get angry too but he'd hold it in until he burst. Mostly he'd send disappointed looks and hurt sighs in Soobin's direction, and every time he would Soobin's heart would break just a little more.

Soobin squirmed under the gaze of the three teenagers, and tried not to run out of the store and envelope Yeonjun in his arms right then and there. He knew he wasn't welcome right now, Yeonjun took time with his feelings, he always had - it was one of the many things Soobin admire so much about him.

"I-," he started, "just, just give me a chance to explain myself to him," he said, "please."

Beomgyu fixed him with an incomprehensible look, equal parts cold and warm, "that's really not up to me, dude," he said, before jumping off the counter and dusting his pants. "Look," he said, first facing Soobin before moving his gaze to his two companions, "as nice as it was to meet you all, you have to realise your on MIDZY territory - in fact, you guys are damned lucky that _we_ were the ones that found you and not someone more loyal to the tribe, a.k.a _most_ of the people in this territory." He let out a sigh, "god I'm not good with shit like this," he muttered under his breath. "Look, we have no idea what's going to happen if the twins find out that the three of you are here - on one hand, they're just teenagers like the rest of us, but on the other hand there's a reason they send us out here searching for intruders - like you three - every morning. Them finding you guys is, at best, going to force you guys to join the tribe, and at worst, well," he ran a finger across his throat, "or well, something along those lines."

Beomgyu grabbed a granola bar from behind the counter before he fixed the trio with a stare once again, "so," he said, "what do you want to do?"

Kai and Taehyun both turned away from Beomgyu to look at Soobin, Kai's eyes were wide looking to Soobin for help, Taehyun's eyes were questioning, as if asking him what his plan was. Soobin felt sick. He didn't know what to do, he didn't feel like he knew anything. He'd just been reunited with the love of his life, who he'd left alone to join a tribe of brutes not even a month ago, and had now walked away from him before he'd even gotten a chance to say the words 'I'm sorry'. Now he was being looked to for leadership by two boys who he'd grown mindlessly attached to, while being stared down by a MIDZY he'd never seen before, and with the eminent threat of death looming over him.

"I-," Soobin stuttered out, "I have no idea."

*** * ***

**TAEHYUN**

Taehyun had never heard Soobin speak of a 'Yeonjun' before.

Gauging from their previous exchange, and how Soobin looked like a shell of himself in the moment, he figured there must have been some history between the two - this was backed up with exclamations of "ah, the infamous ex" and "just give me a chance to explain myself". The new boy - the brunette, not the blue haired one (Yeonjun, Taehyun noted) - seemed to have some inkling of understanding as to what was going on, but Kai seamed just as confused as he was. Neither of them heard of an ex before, definitely not one that was important or talked about enough to earn themselves an "infamous".

Taehyun felt out of the loop, which was ironic because he left his two partners in the dark much more than they did him, regardless, Taehyun wasn't enjoying himself.

He was also realising that he knew just as little about his two travel companions as they knew about him.

The new guy, Beomgyu (as Taehyun had figured from Kai's incredibly articulate introduction of ' _and this is Beomgyu Hyung, he's, um, I don't really know anything about you actually_ '), was staring at the three of them expectantly, waiting for some sort of answer from one of them. Taehyun just stared back, for the first time in a while he didn't have anything to say, so there was nothing he could do but _look_ \- but as nice as Beomgyu was to look at (and, well, he _was_ ), Taehyun wasn't sure whether or not he was willing to risk getting killed by the brunettes fellow tribe members to continue doing it. So, Taehyun looked back towards Soobin, their self appointed leader, for his input. Unhelpfully, Soobin looked kind of shaken up at this point, and very visibly Beomgyu's question of "so, what do you want to do?" had left him baffled.

Realistically, Taehyun figured the "baffled" bit was more because of Soobin's impromptu reunion with his ex, but Taehyun didn't have enough information on their relationship and how it had been or how it had ended to understand why. (And to be fair, Taehyun would have probably not been at his best either if he'd just run into an ex that things had probably ended badly with mere seconds ago - especially since it was pretty obvious Soobin was far from over the blue haired boy.)

Eventually Soobin stutter out an "I-I have no idea." which didn't get them anywhere and was generally unhelpful.

God, this was why he'd wanted to go solo in the first place.

Beomgyu sighed, having slid off the countertop and instead choosing to lean against a wall, granola bar in hand. "You have no idea," he repeated matter of fact, shaking his head, audibly exasperated, "god this is why I need Yeonjun Hyung." He lamented under his breath. Taehyun bit his lip, frustrated, eyes scanning the land outside the stores doors. "Can't we just leave the same way we got in?" He said, "We managed to get inside pretty easily yesterday." He was right, getting in had been easy enough, MIDZYs notoriously had no night patrol, unlike other tribes, but after having been found out by Soobin's Ex and Beomgyu, Taehyun figured that intruders would get caught anyway.

"If it was any other day I'd say you guys would get out easy," Beomgyu said, "but," he continued, taking another bite from his granola bar, "today's a friday." Kai raised an eyebrow, still standing next to where Beomgyu had been sitting on the countertop, his eyes were big and nervous, "what's so special about fridays?" he asked, voice childishly curious and intelligently suspicious. Beomgyu opened his mouth to answer but Soobin beat him to it-

"Party Hours," he answered, eyes wide, voice hoarse.

The MIDZYs weekly 'Party Hours' had become sort of common knowledge around post-apocalypse suburbia. It was an all night rager the MIDZYs had once a week, where they'd bring out their alcohol, roll their joints, and party for hours on end. Last week there'd been a massive ghoulie fight because two MIDZYs, a girl named Aisha and a boy named Jaemin, had shared a particularly potent joint and then proceeded to rampage on ghoulies in a marijuana fuelled haze, apparently they'd very narrowly escaped death, but both had somehow come out of the whole ordeal alive. Taehyun wasn't one for parties either way, he never had been - especially not with the added threat of ghoulie attacks, so he definitely didn't want to be here when the MIDZYs started drunkenly traipsing all over their territory with golf carts and bottles of vodka. But on a much much nicer note, it definitely didn't seam like the worst time for them to make their escape either.

"Shouldn't it be easier to get out though," Taehyun said, voicing his thoughts, "If anyone sees us they'll either be too drunk to remember or pass it off as some sort of hallucination. If anything this is kind of an ideal time to make our leave." Beomgyu laughed, "Oh Hyunnie," he giggled - they were decidedly not close enough for pet names Taehyun thought, but he let it pass, "You're a smart one aren't you?" Taehyun said nothing but raise an eyebrow in reply.

Beomgyu shook his head, smile still present but smaller and now tinged with sympathy, "if you guys had gotten here a week ago you would be absolutely right," he said, "but after Jaemin and Aisha went and almost got themselves killed last week, the twins implemented a guard policy - we're on total lockdown during Party Hours," Beomgyu fixed the three of them with a stare, "they were planning to put a MIDZy on every territory border, but I think Hyunjin's got jocks this evening - Jaemin's one of his favourites after all, and well, you know how the jocks are."

Taehyun did, they all did, especially Soobin seeing as his eyes got wider a visible shiver ran through his body.

"Either way," Beomgyu continued, "today no one gets in," he paused around another mouthful of granola, "and no one gets out."

The sentence was followed with stark, cold, silence. And then a bang.

Yeonjun reemerged from the glass doors, slamming them open and in turn causing Beomgyu to drop what was left of his granola bar, Kai to jump and hide himself behind Soobin, and Soobin to flinch so violently Taehyun thought he might have had a 3 second seizure. "Hyung!" Beomgyu gasped, "Don't! Fucking! Do that!" He said, punctuating each exclamation with a light punch against Yeonjun's shoulders. Yeonjun shoved him off with a whisper of "I'm sorry Beommie," before he looked away from his friend, instead making eye contact first with Taehyun, and then with Kai, strategically avoiding Soobin's gaze. He looked wild, as if he'd just had some sort of epiphany, his eyes were aflame and his hair looked messier than it had before as if he'd ferociously raked his fingers through the bleached strands. There was a light flush on his face too, and a new sheen of sweat that hadn't been there before. The expression on his face could have ranged anywhere from excited to manic. Taehyun had a bad feeling in his gut.

"I have a plan though," he said triumphantly. "We're going to get you guys out - and you're taking us with you."


	4. Kai + Beomgyu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As far as Kai was concerned, things seemed to be looking up! 
> 
> He'd just gotten two new friends (kind of) and an escape plan (also kind of) at the same time. Yeah, maybe the escape plan was a little iffy, and maybe Soobin looked like he was going to throw up at any given moment - but, like, at least they hadn't been killed by a bunch of ghoulies yet, right? Or a couple of MIDZYs for that matter!
> 
> "Hyung you're going to get us all killed!" Beomgyu exclaimed.
> 
> Well, nevermind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, ik it's been a really long time and im so sorry!!! but please read the note at the end when you guys are done!!
> 
> also im sorry the plot doesn't progress too much this chapter but the next one is going to be wiLd i promise

**KAI**

As far as Kai was concerned, things seemed to be looking up! 

He'd just gotten two new friends (kind of) and an escape plan (also kind of) at the same time. Yeah, maybe the escape plan was a little iffy, and maybe Soobin looked like he was going to throw up at any given moment - but, like, at least they hadn't been killed by a bunch of ghoulies yet, right? Or a couple of MIDZYs for that matter!

"Hyung you're going to get us all killed!" Beomgyu exclaimed.

Well, nevermind.

Yeonjun huffed, waving his friend off and snagging a chocolate bar from somewhere in the store, "Oh don't be so overdramatic - we won't die, the worst thing that could possibly happen is like a scratch or a maybe an injury." Both of those things, at least to Kai, seamed decidedly unhelpful. Especially because amidst the apocalypse, a scratch could get you killed considering they could get infected in 0.5 seconds - and don't even get him started on a whole injury. Beomgyu scoffed, once again perched on the counter with his legs folded under him, eyebrows knitted so tightly together that they seamed to be in the same criss-cross position his legs were in, "the worst that could happen is that we get caught and then the twins have their fucking way with us!"

"Well, Hyunjin likes you," Yeonjun said brightly, "so you have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about!" Beomgyu shrieked, "the fuck do you mean I have nothing to worry about! I don't want you to die either."

Yeonjun shrugged, taking a bite from his chocolate bar, "I won't die." He said, plainly, "They won't kill me - maybe make me their personal slave or imprison me or something but like even then like, I'll be alive." Kai didn't think that either of those sounded particularly nice, apparently Beomgyu didn't either because he simply sat there, staring at his friend with wide, panicked eyes, his throat letting out unintelligible, stressed sounding noises.

"Wait let me get this right," Taehyun said suddenly, "You want to somehow get the twins to put you and Beomgyu on guard duty - with a bunch of fucking jocks. Then you want to sneak us there, fight the fucking jocks, and run away?" Taehyun's voice had the familiar snarky disbelief to it, the one that was usually followed by a sarcastic statement of some sort. "That sounds like a great plan!" He continued - ah, there it was. Beomgyu flailed his arms around, gesturing wildly at Taehyun, as if to say 'Yes! Exactly! Listen to this Guy!' - This went generally ignored by Yeonjun who instead said, "yup that's the plan - now what sort of snacks do you think we'd need to pull this off?"

"Okay this is insane!" Beomgyu's voice was panicked, loud, a little pitchy. "How exactly do you plan on getting Yeji and Hyunjin to let us do guard duty anyway?" Kai nodded wordlessly, that seamed like a valid question. Yeonjun shrugged, "Again, Hyunjin likes you," he said, chewing mindlessly on a chocolate bar, "just look up at him with your puppy dog eyes and bat your pretty eyelashes, he'll let you have your way."

Beomgyu looked, in a word, appalled. Kai echoed that sentiment, because as much as he did not know Beomgyu and Yeonjun, he definitely didn't want either one of them whoring themselves out for their sake. "First of all," Beomgyu said stiffly, voice volatile and teeth clenched, "me and Hyunjin are the same height so know one will be looking up or down at anybody," Yeonjun chuckled at that earning a positively catlike hiss from Beomgyu, "and second of all he doesn't like me nearly enough to let me chill with a bunch of jocks all night without an actual excuse."

"Well, you never know until you try."

"Um no, I know damn well-"

"I think we should give it a try," Soobin said suddenly. Silence settled in at his words, Yeonjun's previously disconcerted aura hardening as he fixed a hard gaze at his ex. Taehyun too looked shocked by this revelation, which was shocking on its own since little ever surprised Taehyun. Kai himself was a little shocked - what, he may not be the smartest kid on the block but even he knew this didn't seem like the best plan. "Dude what?" Taehyun exclaimed, "You can't be serious!"

Soobin just shrugged tiredly, "This is the only plan we've got," he said, "It's better to try and fail than not try at all."

"Not if failing may get us literally tortured by MIDZY minions!" Taehyun argued.

"Well not trying means we continue here and get caught by a bunch of jocks!"

That seemed to shut Taehyun up, he was still seething, but he knew Soobin's history with those guys and no one wanted a repeat of that. Taehyun sighed, slouching forward and setting legs spread out in front of him against a miscellaneous food stand. He looked like a child in that moment, with his arms crossed against his chest and his eyes angry, it reminded Kai that even though he often forgot it, him and Taehyun were really the same age. "Fine," Taehyun spet, eyes still ablaze, "but I'm not fucking happy about it, and we're going to have to be really fucking careful - god knows what's going to happen if a jock catches you, Hyung."

"Language," Soobin sighed.

Beomgyu quirked a brow, speaking up after what seamed like a while, "why? What did you do to the jocks?" He eyed Soobin curiously and - wait, shit they weren't supposed to know this! "Nothing nothing!" Kai said, voice audibly panicked, "just, uh, you know, jocks and what they do to people that are, um - uh, not jocks?" Great, kai, that was fucking great answer. Beomgyu clearly didn't care, instead he grabbed onto Kai's cheeks and squished them against his palms cooing out a "oh my god aren't you just so so cute!" Kai would have felt offended, considering he was a good 4 or 5 inches taller than Beomgyu, but he let it go because at least it took the conversation away from Soobin.

Nevertheless, Kai figured it did seem like they'd reached an agreement - or, more specifically (in the case of Beomgyu, Taehyun, and well, Kai himself) they'd given in to an idea. A potentially crazy, life-as-we-know-it ending, could- easily-go-horribly-wrong, idea. But Soobin was looking less green then he had before, Taehyun's expression had hardened into his more mature anger (still angry though, Kai liked the guy but he had no idea where he got off), and Beomgyu had, of course, seamingly forgotten his previous worries after manhandling Kai's face. "Okay then it's decided," Yeonjun anednounc, voice serious and eyes ablaze, "let's get you guys to the school."

Beomgyu froze at that, his hands going slack against Kai's face and eyes getting wider than Kai would have thought possible.

"Wait we're taking them to the fucking school!?"

*** * ***

**BEOMGYU**

Beomgyu was decidedly not having a good time. 

Given another situation, Beomgyu wouldn't really have minded flirting with Hyunjin. What? He was hot and about the same height as Beomgyu, really back then Beomgyu wouldn't have needed much else to consider being into someone. Or at the very least - according to Yeonjun's words, not his - 'bat his pretty eyelashes'. However, "another situation" did not entail the end of the world or Hyunjin and his sister seizing power of a small but influential group of teenagers and young adults and then leading them like an 18 year old Hitler. 

Ok maybe Hitler was a bit much but Beomgyu still wasn't going to enjoy flirting with him.

("You'll only be fake flirting," Yeonjun had reassured. As if that made it any better.)

Beomgyu had had a friend called Jeongin before the apocalypse, they were about the age and had a bunch of similar interests, more importantly, they lived near each other so over the years they'd gotten pretty close. While Jeongin didn't go to the same school as Beomgyu, he did go to the same school as one Hwang Hyunjin and his twin sister - one year their junior. Jeongin also happened to have had the biggest crush on the guy and he talked about him a near infinite amount of times, or at least whenever him and Beomgyu would meet. So, when the world did end and Beomgyu found out that Hwang Hyunjin ("stellar football player, funny, looks like a greek god."- Yang Jeongin, 2019) and his sister were forming a tribe, Beomgyu headed there.

There'd been a line of hopeful individuals then, Beomgyu knew many of them, had seen them at parties or on social media. They were all lined up in hopes of becoming a coveted "MIDZY" as the Hwang Twins had branded themselves. Beomgyu didn't like the name back then, he didn't like it now either - even though everyone identified him as one. Even though he was one. He'd been one of the lucky few who'd gotten in, however he'd only gotten in after 15 minutes of Hwang Hyunjin aggressively flirting with him and him wondering what the fuck Jeongin had ever seen in the guy. Not fun. So he definitely wasn't looking to encourage said flirting in any way, especially when the flirting was going to be on his side this time. 

Unfortunately, being friends with Choi Yeonjun was coming back to bite him in the ass.

Figures, Beomgyu had always had kinda shitty luck.

"So how exactly do you want me to flirt with the guy?" Beomgyu sighed, once they'd (somehow) safely smuggled the three new kids into the school building. It had involved a lot of sneaking around and careful footing, but considering that there were really only about 30 MIDZYs populating the - frankly, giant - school, they didn't have too much trouble - even if Beomgyu's palms were sweating the whole way and every little sound made him squeal (this earned him several judgemental looks from both Yeonjun and the new Taehyun guy). Once they had made it back to his and Yeonjun's room Beomgyu had let out a massive, massive, sigh of relief - so had Soobin and Kai, so at least he wasn't the only one scared half to death by that whole process.

"Hm, I don't know," Yeonjun said slowly, rifling through his clothes. Yeonjun had told Beomgyu that before the world had ended he'd kind of loved fashion, and he'd managed to save some "pieces" (as Yeonjun had called them) and bring them here. "But, we gotta make you look extra pretty, Gyu!" Yeonjun said enthusiastically. Beomgyu groaned, he for one thought he always looked pretty, or well, as pretty as he'd get. "And how do you plan on doing that?" He'd asked instead, fixing Yeonjun with his best withering glare. It probably didn't work since Yeonjun was quite immune to Beomgyu's scathed looks by now, as annoying as it was.

"We're just going to give you a cute new outfit, Gyu, don't worry about it!" Yeonjun reassured, waving him off - yeah, as if the outfit was Beomgyu's main fucking concern right now. "Hyung, you're clothes are decidedly big for me," he said instead, "I'll be drowning in them." Yeonjun rolled his eyes, picking up a red turtleneck sweater of some sort and holding it again Beomgyu's frame, "that'll lend to the cuteness," he insisted.

"Won't it be suspicious, though?" Taehyun said suddenly, fuck Beomgyu had almost forgotten the three of them were there, "if he's like, a lot more dressed up than usual I mean."

He had a point, most post-apocalypse teens had about three outfits at best - except perhaps Yeonjun. Beomgyu was no different, he himself had two pairs of his favorite jeans, a pair of joggers, 5 t-shirts, a couple of his favorite hoodies, and one thick Jacket for if it ever got really cold. Additionally, after almost two months Hyunjin would have seen basically all of these clothes, save for the hoodies and the jacket.

"He has a point," Beomgyu voiced, "it'll be weird if I suddenly show up in something none of them have ever seen me in before, they did checks on everything we brought in with us before they let us into the school, Hyung."

"Just tell them you're borrowing something from me," Yeonjun said dismissively, "tell Hyunjin you felt like looking pretty today."

Beomgyu gagged a little, he was just about ready to rip Yeonjun's blue hair off.

Instead he faked a pout and said, "Hyung! Are you saying I don't look pretty everyday? You're so mean!"

Yeonjun just chuckled under his breath and threw the red sweater at Beomgyu's face with a, "here put this on." The sweater was nice to be fair, Beomgyu realised as he pulled it over the we bare bears t-shirt he had on. It was, as he had guessed, big from him, with the sleeves flowing passed his arms and the turtleneck bunch around his neck. Yeonjun was quick to tweak around with it, adjusting the sleeves and folding the neck, as Beomgyu squirmed under him. The three newcomers sat staring at them with expressions that ranged from amused - Kai - to critical - Taehyun - to wistful - Soobin, of course Soobin.

Beomgyu kind of felt bad for the guy actually, he'd heard the story from Yeonjun - but Yeonjun made rash decisions - and judgements, and as much as Beomgyu truly liked the guy (hell, he was practically his older brother at this stage) he wasn't sure if he'd been all that fair to his ex boyfriend. Beomgyu was sure the guy had a reason for running off to the jocks whether Yeonjun wanted to entertain that notion or not. Either way he seamed like a good guy, cute too, a little too tall for Beomgyu's personal taste but he saw the appeal nonetheless. 

"Okay..." Yeonjun said, now fiddling around with Beomgyu's hair, "and.. done!" He turned to the three newcomers, grinning childishly and said, "what do you think?"

Beomgyu looked at his hyung incredulously. He was sure the sweater was nice but it couldn't have made that much of a difference. Clearly the rest agreed as well, because Taehyun just quirked a single eyebrow and said, "he looks the same as he did before... but in a nicer sweater?" Beomgyu nodded sagely, "fair enough," he said. Yeonjun huffed, "nooo," he whined stretching the word - sometimes the fact that he was older seemed to go over Yeonjun's head, "he needs to look extra prettyyy." Beomgyu giggled at that, ruffling Yeonjun's hair, "don't worry Yeonjunnie, I'm sure what I'm wearing won't matter once I actually start flirting with him." 

"You little shit, you can't just not call me Hyung." Yeonjun gasped, eyes playful, it was strange how quickly he'd gotten over the sudden arrival of his ex - Beomgyu chocked it down to simple denial. He shrugged out a cheeky little, "sorry hyung" instead, blinking up at his hyung with his lips pressed into a pout and his eyes wide. Yeonjun smacked him against the head for that gleefully - Beomgyu thought it was far too gleeful considering their current scenario, but he didn't look too far into it. "Now go work your magic, you nusiance." Beomgyu scowled at that, "um, I assure you no magic will be worked!"

Yeonjun just laughed and pushed him out the door.

Only once he was successfully out the door did Beomgyu realise that they'd never actually discussed what he was going to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys i'm so so sorry this chapter took so long but like everything has kind of gone to shit??
> 
> I'm a social person so when the quarantine started i was already in a bad place and like our government handled this terribly so fuck trump and all that jazz and then after the riots that started things have gotten worse, I've been down there protesting and my hometown is kind of a mess. If there's anyone out there also rioting or just generally feeling angry, afraid, and disgusted know that I'm with you and a message away, you are more than welcome to reach out to me just tell me if you wanna talk in the comments :)
> 
> If you guys want to donate, sign some petitions, or just generally keep informed about everything that's going on right now, here's a link to all the resources: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
> 
> Secondly, if you aren't in the financial position to donate here is a youtube playlist that will help you donate to the cause without having to spend money: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIGPpHqDJPTM9eEGAxYIkUxXOUKrcmsog
> 
> Please, I'm begging you to try and help out in any way possible, signing petitions and watching the links takes so little time and effort and it genuinely helps the people down there risking their lives. This movement shouldn't have had to happened, but it did anyway and all of us, regardless of where you're from, what colour your skin is, or how much priviledge you have, must must must do something to help.
> 
> And as always, stay safe, stay strong, and keep fighting. 
> 
> Also, I cannot promise when the next chapter will come out but i promise that it 100% will eventually. I just need some time given the current state of things. Thank you.


	5. Yeonjun + Taehyun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin's face twisted back into an amused smile, "Ah, I know what you're up to," he mused. Beomgyu squinted, eyebrows knitting together, "Uh, you do?" He asked. Hyunjin nodded, clapping his hands gleefully, "of course I do Beommie!" He said, Yeonjun swallowed thickly. Hyunjin may have been a narcissist and a bit of fuckboy, but he wasn't dumb, and Yeonjun really had no idea as to what would happen if he caught on to what they were doing. Hyunjin smirked, quirking an eyebrow.
> 
> "You want to get with one of the jock boys, don't you?"
> 
> Beomgyu was frozen for a second, before he stuttered out a "I-I'm sorry, what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys before we start i just wanted to let you guys know that im going to be starting the skz part of this au soon so keep an eye out for that if you guys are interested! The stories going to be connected to this one, but probably pretty loosely - like the Hyunjin in this one and the Hyunjin in that one are gonna be the same, and the babies (txt) are probably gonna be featured too :))

**YEONJUN**

Okay, so _maybe_ Yeonjun felt a little bad.

After he'd pushed Beomgyu out the door, he'd quickly followed his friend out and towards the gym. The biggest room in the school save for the Lunch Hall, and also - not-so-coincidently - where Hyunjin chose to stay. From next to him Beomgyu looked like a ball of nerves, eyes flitting in all directions as they made their way, his hands were curled into Yeonjun's sweater, the sleeves extending to Beomgyu's palms and the fabric no doubt getting crushed in his fists. Yeonjun would have told him off if Beomgyu didn't look like he was going to burst at any given moment.

"Stop biting your lip so hard you'll break the skin," Yeonjun said instead, eyeing the younger as Beomgyu shot him a glare, teeth still worrying at his lower lip. He didn't say anything, just took a tired breath and marched ahead until the reached the gym doors.

"Want me to come with you?" Yeonjun offered, placing a comforting hand on Beomgyus shoulder.

"It's more suspicious if you come with me, just wait at the door maybe, so you can see what's happening?" Beomgyu shrugged. Yeonjun gave him a nod and small smile, "good luck Beommie."

So yeah, Yeonjun kinda maybe _definitely_ felt a little bad.

Beomgyu's knuckles were loud against the gym's doors, and both him and Yeonjun flinched at the sound. There was beat of silence before the unique timbre of one Hwang Hyunjin's voice interrupted the quiet with a sing-song of "come in!" Beomgyu let out his nth long suffering sigh and pushed the door open with a soft little "hi, Hyunjin Ssi." 

He slipped inside as Hyunjin let out a gasp of "well who do we have here!" He sounded abnormally happy at Beomgyu's arrival, "how can I help you Beommie?" His voie was sickly sweet and Yeonjun felt a fierce streak of protectiveness in himself as he slipped behind Beomgyu, standing at the door. Hyunjin had the smirk on his face, the one he always had when he saw Beomgyu (or any other MIDZY he thought was cute for that matter - Yeonjun had seen that same sly smile directed at the likes of Na Jaemin and Choi Bomin and other similarly pretty MIDZYs), and the smirk grew larger as Beomgyu came closer - it lessened in intensity when he noticed Yeonjun though, faltering for a second before going back to it's original state when Beomgyu came to a halt before him. 

The gym had very little personality, Yeonjun noticed, even less than class 9-A which had Beomgyu's chainsaw and Yeonjun's numerous sweaters littered all over the place. The room was spotless and painfully brigt, the ceiling was usellesly high, and covered with those flat circular lights they had in every high school. The room itself had nothing but a bigass bed (which looked small, given how big the room was), a bunch of ropes and cones littered on the side - probably left over from when the high school was still up and running, a wooden cupboard, a stand for the Assault Rifle Hyunjin carried around when he had to fight, and a big, red, armchair that looked awfully out of place in a room that was comprised of only wooden panels and white walls.

"Beomie!" Hyunjin cheered when the younger finally came to a halt in front of where he was sitting on his massive plush sofa that they'd snagged from a home depot, "And I see you've bought Yeonjun with you too!" Yeonjun resisted the urge to his out a _'Yeonjun **Hyung** '_ but refrained, he needed to play nice if this was going to work out. "How can I help you babe," Hyunjin slurred, leaning onto his right arm, cocking his head and fixing his gaze on Beomgyu, smirk everpresent.

"Right, um Hyunjin-ssi I was just-" Beomgyu started.

"How many times have I told you, you can just call me Jinnie Hyung yeah? Don't have to worry your pretty head over the formalities."

Beomgyu grit his teeth and forced out a smile, "right, um, Jinnie Hyung," he said, from the door Yeonjun could see him clench and unclench his fingers from where they were laced together behind his back. "I was just wondering if you could do me and Yeonjun Hyung a favor regarding, um, tonight?"

Hyunjin perked up at that, "ooh tonight?" He sang, "what do you want for tonight? Some extra alcohol or something? A private room to get frisky? Lube-"

"Oh no no no no!" Beomgyu said quickly, eyes panicked, ears and face bright red. Yeonjun resisted the urge to let out a laugh. Beomgyu had become something of a little brother to Yeonjun over the days spent together in class 9-A, he was awfully cute though, charming in all the best ways - how quickly he was flustered was one of Yeonjun's favorite thing about the kid, and now it only made him feel worse about essentially whoring out the kid. "Nothing like that, nothing like that!" Beomgyu assured, voice higher than it usually was, much to Hyunjin's delight obviously, given how the width of his smile seemed to triple, amusement evident. "Well then, what is it that you want, Beommie?"

"Um, I was just wondering," Beomgyu said, his voice wasn't shaky but he sounded distinctly nervous, Yeonjun kept his eyes on his friend, "like, I know you and Yeji Ssi got like people to do border look out for tonight, but I was wondering if me and Yeonjun could do it too - no reason, just, not in a party mood that's all!" Beomgyu's words came out hurried, like he was in a rush to get them out - and then, for the first time since meeting the man, Yeonjun saw Hyunjin look genuinely confused.

"You... want to do border patrol? By choice?" Hyunjin said, voice disbelifing. 

"Uh, yeah?" Beomgyu said, he'd twisted his fingers together to the point where they looked almost painful. 

Hyunjin's face twisted back into an amused smile, "Ah, I know what you're up to," he mused. Beomgyu squinted, eyebrows knitting together, "Uh, you do?" He asked. Hyunjin nodded, clapping his hands gleefully, "of course I do Beommie!" He said, Yeonjun swallowed thickly. Hyunjin may have been a narcissist and a bit of fuckboy, but he wasn't dumb, and Yeonjun really had no idea as to what would happen if he caught on to what they were doing. Hyunjin smirked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You want to get with one of the jock boys, don't you?"

_Good enough._

Beomgyu was frozen for a second, before he stuttered out a "I-I'm sorry, what?"

Hyunjin smirked like a cat, "Go on, tell me who it is many of them are plenty cute! Is it Jeno? He's cute as hell. Maybe Minho? A little short but I get it. Hmm, maybe you're going straight to the big leagues, Jungkook or someone - oh my god have you seen his arms?" Beomgyu seamed to relax through the course of Hyunjin's monologue, he put on a sheepish smile, finally unclasping his hands to scratch to the back of his neck.

"Uh, yeah! Exactly!" He breathed out, "there's this, um, really cute guy, yeah."

Hyunjin seamed to light up, 'awe Beomie!" He gushed, snatching away Beomgyu's hands to pull him close, Yeonjun held in a giggle at Beomgyu's panicked expression. Once Beomgyu was closer to Hyunjin, still sitting on his bed, he lowered his voice and whispered, "tell me if you need condoms or lube and stuff yeah, I have enough supply-"

"No no no, that won't be necessary!" Beomgyu squeaked, eyes turning crimson once again, "I just, um, want to meet him today."

Hyunjin nodded, "teasing him, huh?" He said cheekily.

"Uh, yes?" Beomgyu started. Hyunjin nodded solemnly slipping his hands off Beomgyu's and standing up to ruffle his hair instead, "well okay then, have fun Beommie, got get some good dick yeah!" Beomgyu's eyes widened, "Does that mean we're allowed to, like, patrol?" Hyunjin shrugged, "Of course, who am I to stand in the way of one of my cutest MIDZYs getting some," he said, "guard allotments are going to be put up in the hall in a bit, just check where your guy is stationed and head off whenever you want to!"

Yeonjun breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Really!" Beomgyu beamed, his smile finally looking real, "Oh my god thank you so much Hyunjin Hyung!" Hyunjin waved him off, "If there's anything I'm all for it's keeping up moral during the apocalypse - and nothing keeps up moral like giving - or getting - a good dicking!" Beomgyu's smile turned bashful again, "haha, yeah," he trailed off. "Now shoo," Hyunjin said, grabbing onto Beomgyu's shoulders and flipping him around, "get out of her, I knew you were looking extra pretty today, good luck babe!" He slapped Beomgyu on the back and the younger just chuckled awkwardly, thanking him one last time.

Beomgyu collapsed into Yeonjun once the gym door swung to a close behind him, letting out a sigh of relief. Yeonjun chuckled, patting the younger's back and ruffling his hair, "good job Beommie, now let's get back inside before Hyunjin decides to ask for details." Beomgyu didn't move for a second, "I hate you for making me do that," he murmured into Yeonjun's shoulders, before pulling away. Yeonjun rolled his eyes, flipping the younger around as they made their way back to Class 9-A, "shut up, it wasn't that bad," Yeonjun reasoned, although he knew it probably (definitely) was - Beomgyu's ears were _still_ flushed red in embarrassment. 

"I hate everyone," Beomgyu muttered.

"No, you don't." Yeonjun smiled.

"You especially," Beomgyu continued.

"No, you don't."

Beomgyu just rolled his eyes, and kept walking before coming too a quick halt. "Wait a second," he said, turning on his feet, "We've got to go to Jaemin Hyung's room." Beomgyu grabbed onto his arm and started pulling him in the opposite direction. "Dude what?" Yeonjun said, "why the fuck would we have to go see Jaemin right _now_?" He asked incredulously. Beomgyu was never the impulsive types, that had traditionally been Yeonjun's job in the time they'd spent together, so he was rightfully a little freaked out. "We're not going to see _him_ , we're just going to hs room," Beomgyu said bluntly, still dragging along Yeonjun at a furious pace, "he's in charge of keeping track of all the stuff we got from the make up stores and salons right, all the jewellery and hair products, right?"

Yeonjun stared down at Beomgyu, "Yeah, he is," he said, his mind conjuring up an image of Jaemin's freshly dyed powder blue hair (it had been a pastel pink colour when the world ended), "he's in charge of the clothes we looted from the mall too but they're rationing those," Yeonjun gasped for breath, trying to keep up with the younger, before continuing, "but why the fuck would we need any of that?" 

*** * ***

**TAEHYUN**

Taehyun was getting restless.

Yeonjun's plan was risky, maybe even _too_ risky, and the fact that it all rode on some pretty boy convincing another pretty boy to let the first pretty boy guard a _border_ , was disconcerting - to say the least. Even that was still only Taehyun's second concern, his first was that he was on uncharted, potentially enemy, ground, with nothing but two tall idiots he trusted and two MIDZYs he didn't. All in all, this may have been Taehyun's worst day in the apocalypse thus far.

"Can you _stop_ pacing so much you're gonna make a whole in the floor," Soobin said, "you literally haven't stopped since they left, it's been 15 minutes." Taehyun shot Soobin an unimpressed look, "You can't expect me to be calm when we're literally about to follow through on the worst plan ever thought up!" he exclaimed. The older looked tired, and Taehyun got why - reuniting with an ex and then having to potentially reunite with a whole faction of people who were out to get you would tire out Taehyun as well. Kai was practically asleep, making himself at home on one of the mattresses layed down on the classroom floor - something told Taehyun it was probably Beomgyu's (there was a chainsaw resting beside it, really it didn't particularly challenge Taehyun's deductive abilities).

"Relax, Hyunnie," Kai giggled, "when was the last time you slept on anything that remotely resembled a bed?"

He rolled around on Beomgyu's mattress like a dog, and patted the one next to it - Yeonjun's, Taehyun figured - as if asking Taehyun to join him.

Taehyun just scowled back in return - _god, did he fucking miss his solo days._

"I can't be the only one who thinks this plan is absolutely, bat shit, crazy right?" He said, fixing Soobin with a stare. Soobin looked up at him from where he was sitting on the floor, "it's the only plan we've got, Hyun," he reasoned, "plus if Beomgyu convinces Hwang Hyunjin to let them do border patrol we're already halfway there." Taehyun wanted to scream. "Hyung, that's a big fucking if!" He reasoned, "It's suspicious for anyone to wanna give up a night of partying to do something as boring as guard a border - especially if the people are a dude with piercings and _literal_ blue hair and a pretty boy who looks like every love interest in a high school k-drama ever?"

Kai sat up at that, "awe, you think Beomgyu Hyung's pretty," he giggled.

"Why is _that_ what you chose to focus on?" Taehyun all but yelled.

Soobin heaved out a sight, "look," he said, fixing Taehyun with serious eyes, "this is the best we've got right now - and Kai's not wrong, I for one haven't seen comfort like this in weeks, and I know full well you haven't either! A bed that isn't just a sleeping bag? A clean room? Just a fucking roof? Even if it's only until we figure out a way out, this really is the best possible option! Besides, strength in numbers." Taehyun squared his shoulders and let out a sigh, leaning against a wall, "fine," he bit out angrily, "but I'm not going to be happy about it." Soobin shook his head with a little chuckle, "sometimes I forget you and Kai are the same age," he said. Taehyun rolled his eyes, he wasn't being a kid, he had a fucking point even if he did say so himself.

"Hey what does that mean!" Kai said in protest, still stretched out on the bed, he paused for a bit, "wait haven't they been gone to long now - it's been like 20 minutes, it shouldn't take that long for Beomgyu Hyung to seduce the guy, as Hyunnie said, he's quite pretty." Taehyun scowled at the boy, "can you drop it?" He snapped, "why don't you make fun of Soobin Hyung about Yeonjun Hyung instead?" Soobin froze up at that, as he did at any mention of the blue haired boy, and Kai just shrugged and said, "looks like a touchy subject." Taehyun glanced at Soobin, who's face was already twisted into something distressed, "fair enough," he said, eyes zeroing in on the oldest, "what even happened between you two?"

Soobin looked like he was going to scream, his jaw clenched and his hands fisted. "I," he started, voice nervous, "I'd really rather not talk about it, i-if that's okay?"

"Of course, Soobinnie Hyung," Kai exclaimed, voice audibly panicked, as he shot Taehyun a worried look.

Taehyun couldn't help but felt bad for the older, "of course," he echoed simply - Yeah, Taehyun may have been a bit of a dick, but he wasn't that bad.

There was stiff silence for a second, as Soobin looked down at his feet and Taehyun and Kai shot each other worried frowns, until suddenly, the door was flung open and Beomgyu and Yeonjun hurried inside with... plastic bags? They were the ones you'd typically see used to store garbage, and Beomgyu and Yeonjun threw them inside at maximum speed before slamming the door behind them - after Yeonjun did a frenzied check as if to make sure no one was following them. They were flushed, as if they'd run all the way here, Beomgyu slid down the door onto the floor in a panting heap, and Yeonjun gasped for breath, hands on his knees.

"Beomgyu Hyung? Yeonjun Hyung? Uh, are you guys okay?" Kai asked getting off Beomgyu's mattress. 

"Uh, and also, what are those?" Taehyun said, pointing at the black bags thrown haphazardly onto the floor.

Beomgyu heaved one last breath before looking up at Taehyun with a smile so wide it could split his face in laugh (if Taehyun thought it was cute, he chose not to dwell on it). "Those," he said, pointing at the bags, "are our disguises once we're out of here."

Taehyun's eyes grew wide at that, _'once we're out of here'_ Beomgyu had said, that could only mean-

"Does that mean Hyung successfully seduced Hyunjin Ssi!" Kai exclaimed clapping his hands.

Beomgyu guffawed at that, the tips of his ears turning a burning scarlet (again, if Taehyun thought it was cute, he chose not to dwell on it). "I-I didn't seduce him!" Beomgyu spluttered, his face also turned the same shade as the sweater Yeonjun had lent him now - not to mention his ears, Taehyun couldn't help but chuckle. "He didn't seduce him," Yeonjun confirmed nodding sagely, appearing to have relaxed as well, "he did however convince Hyunjin he wanted to get fucked by a jock-"

"Hyung!"

"What? It's the truth!"

"I hate you," Beomgyu muttered, burying his face in his hands. Yeonjun chuckled, leaning over to ruffle Beomgyu's hair (from the corner of his eye, Taehyun saw Soobin grow a little sadder), "you keep saying that," Yeonjun said dismissively. "What exactly is in those bags?" Soobin said, finally breaking his probably Yeonjun-induced silence. "Clothes, jewellery, hair dye," Yeonjun said, fixing his eyes on the bags, "they're not ideal disguises but it's the best we can do given the, you know, apocalypse."

"Where'd you guys get all this stuff," Kai exclaimed, stars in his eyes as he examined a pack of hair dye and bleach he'd procured from the garbage bags. Taehyun nodded, there was no way they'd just found so much stuff lying around. Beomgyu looked up, hsi face was considerably less red now, "when we first took over this area the Hwang's got us to loot a bunch of malls and stuff for basically everything and bring it to the school so we wouldn't have to leave the school much at risk of getting attacked by a ghoulie," he explained, "this guy named Jaemin - you may remember him from last friday's, um, incident - is in charge of tracking things like clothes and jewellery and hair and skin care products. They're all kept in his room in his room which he has all to himself courtesy of all the stuff in there, so we grabbed some stuff, and well, ran."

"Won't he notice they're gone?" Taehyun said, mildly horrified. The last thing he needed was to be accused of theft by the MIDZYs.

"It's a friday," Yeonjun shrugged, "it's what, 3? Jaemin's probably pre-gaming already. Besides, he doesn't take his job as tracker very seriously."

"Um, okay," Taehyun said through gritted teeth, "and why exactly do we need disguises?"

Beomgyu grinned again (okay it was getting harder for Taehyun to not dwell on the fact that it was cute now, "well these guys are gonna figure out we've deserted eventually, and no one out here has as much power as the Hwangs you know? You guys may not have to worry as much, but the moment they figure out we're out of here they're gonna set up some sort of search system, there's no pictures and shit because like, electricity and whatever, but they all know what we look like so we gotta look as different from that as possible." Yeonjun hummed, "Me and Gyu especially, but you three as well - the jocks in the whichever spot we choose to escape from are going to see you, it's kind of unavoidable."

"Wait a second," Soobin said suddenly, "did you just say we're going to stationed _with_ the jocks?"

"Uh, yeah?" Yeonjun said, eyes trained on his ex with something akin to suspicion, "the jocks being there is the only reason Hyunjin was convinced, at all. They're not going anywhere."

Soobin paled impossibly, Yeonjun and Beomgyu gazed at him in confusion, and Taehyun and Heuningkai locked eyes.

_Oh no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters pretty tame - BUT WE BOUTA GET SOME ACTION NEXT TIME AROUND SO YAY


	6. Soobin + Beomgyu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a couple of new faces in this chapter, they start of as villian-types but since most of them are gonna have a spin off story they're not gonna stay that way i promise!!!
> 
> also im so sorry his has taken so so long to update but this fic is honestly really hard to write and my midterms are going on right now and uh yea :((( i hope all of you stay patient for this fic because i AM going to be updating it :(

**SOOBIN**

In the midst of the apocalypse, every survivor had to be constantly aware of two things: Ghoulies, and a food source.

Soobin had three: Ghoulies, a food source, and whether or not a jock was anywhere near him.

It had all started, like most things nowadays, with the the end of the word. The explosion that triggered the apocalypse had taken place exactly 46 days ago (Soobin could tell by observing the tracking marks that ran up Taehyun's jeans). The explosion had gone off during one of Yeonjun's dance shows, Soobin clearly remembers staring up at his boyfriend - now, ex-boyfriend, he reminds himself painfully - with stars in his eyes. Then the world had started to end and he remember him and Yeonjun wading their way into each others arms as the fallout from the explosion bathed the room in an uncomfortable shade of blinding white and gold.

Everyone had passed out for 5 minutes, and then awoken 10 minutes later. Luckily the room had been 95% students, with the only 2 teachers there being the assistant dance coach, who was only just 23 and therefore decidedly un-zombiefied, and the old choir-instructor - 75 and easy to detain. Of course there was a mad scramble to get out of the building and figure out what exactly was going on, Soobin learned that day just how bad the combination of rampant panic and teenagers could be. It had all been a blur from there, Soobin remembered Yeonjun's hand clasped around his wrist as they both took a running start towards the field to go investigate the explosion - Yeonjun, ever the braver of the two, had forged ahead, helping people get out of the fallout and fighting off newly zombified adults (now, dubbed ghoulies) to the best of his abilities.

Soobin remembered being frozen, whether it was in shock or horror, he couldn't remember, it was probably a mix of both.

Yeonjun was a better person than Soobin, that was what had struck him there on the field.

Good, kind, brave Yeonjun, handsome as ever as he fought and helped every single person he could get to, all while Soobin stood there, uselessly in the wreckage of what their lives had once been - and then Soobin remembered running. With no words, just feelings, running as far as he could, far from the school, far from the explosion, far from Yeonjun. Teenagers are irrational creatures, Soobin didn't know why he did what he did, all he knew is that he did it, and that the last words he'd heard Yeonjun say were "are you okay to walk on your own?" to a stranger Soobin hadn't gotten a good look at but knew full well that Yeonjun didn't know.

Brave, good, kind, Yeonjun, who deserved more than anything Soobin had to offer.

Soobin chocked it down to a mix of fear, guilt and foolishness. His mind said he'd only hold Yeonjun back - from what, he had no idea, but he had no idea of anything at that point. Either way, he wasn't nearly as capable as Yeonjun, that was evident, and Soobin was sure Yeonjun would rise out of all this - whatever, all of this was - as a leader and a hero, and he didn't need Soobin holding him back.

He remembers running till his legs gave out, and then waking up the next morning and running again. For 4 days on end he did this, stopping only at abandoned corner stores and houses to get whatever nutrition he could get his hands on into his system - and then one day he'd somehow lost his way into Jock Territory. He'd passed out beside some supermarket, the burn of linoleum cool against his bare arms, and woken up in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by mostly unfamiliar people, and one he did know - a senior from his high school, Jeon Jungkook, who'd been captain of the football team, one of their school's top runners, and one of Yeonjun's idols.

"Welcome to the jocks," He'd said, voice deceptively bright for how dark his face looked, "you're welcome for saving you - you owe us now."

Those series of blunt words were followed by the leering stares of the others around them (jocks, Soobin presumed), and suddenly Soobin was catapulted into the worst 2 weeks of his life.

Sometimes it was easy to lose yourself to the apocalypse, they were about 2 months in and sometimes Soobin forgets that there was anything but this. That there was anything but ghoulies and clans and constantly fighting for your life. As if Soobin hadn't been making plans to attend veterinary school in a couple years and move into a crappy Seoul apartment with Yeonjun as the older pursued his art or his dance or his music or his fashion - Yeonjun had never decided which one, now he'd never be able to. A part of Soobin tried actively to forget those dreams, a part of him clung onto them, make believe memories of the two of them swam in his head - Yeonjun cooking dinner as Soobin laid the table, the two of them cuddling up to watch a movie after, them eventually falling asleep side by side, on the bed they shared, in an apartment they owned together - and Soobin was always caught up in the dilemma of letting all of that go, or holding the peace he'd now never get to experience as close to his heart and possible.

Really all of them joked about how the Apocalypse wasn't all that terrible, Taehyun had said it so many times Soobin had lost count at this point. Those weeks with the jocks had taught him otherwise - and now he was looking those two weeks straight in the face, as Beomgyu and Yeonjun led Soobin, Kai, and Taehyun into a half conceived plan, with no knowledge of where exactly Soobin had been after he'd fled from the football field, and what exactly he'd been up to.

Yeonjun and Beomgyu had sneaked the three of them into a golf cart, one of the ones with canvas running up both sides. It was darker now, and as Soobin sneaked into the cart he noticed that most of the MIDZYs were already pretty out of him - Hyunjin had some boy on his lap and was sipping vodka straight from the bottle, Yeji sat alone, leaning against the school's glass doors, smoking a blunt and staring into space. Looking at them now, Soobin wondered what exactly the two of them were thinking, they both had this tired, glazes over looks in their eyes, and Soobin almost felt bad for how much he'd villainized the two of them in his head. But no matter, he had more worrisome things to think about.

"Are we really sure this is going to work," Taehyun said, he was sitting between Soobin and Kai, squished between the two taller boys, "I mean, I know we're not sure about that but like, are we sure we're at least not going to, I don't know, die?"

"Yes," Yeonjun said firmly.

"No," Beomgyu said, at the same time.

Taehyun groaned, Kai snorted, Soobin just sat there. Yeonjun looked calm, at least as far as Soobin could make out given he was sitting directly behind him and had to stare from the extreme corner of his eyes. He did look relaxed though, his grip on the wheel was steady and his eyes were lazy on the road, sometimes he took a turn too quickly, and maybe he was driving a little faster than he needed to, but he wasn't all that bad. Maybe it was because Beomgyu was sitting next to him, Soobin hadn't known the guy for more than, like, a day, but he was visibly nervous. His arms clutched the chainsaw in his arms like a vice (which _could not_ be safe), and his eyes were lowered to his lap, he also couldn't sit still Soobin figured, coming from the incessant foot tapping that rung out from where he was sitting. Kai was also visibly anxious, his eyes were darting anywhere but straight ahead and he'd wrapped his hand into the sleeves of Taehyun's sweatshirt - speaking of which, Taehyun just looked angry. Arms crossed over his chest and feet tapping at a rate the rivalled Beomgyu's. 

"Can all of you stop panicking so much," Yeonjun said, although his own voice had now taken on an edge, "I can already tell Taehyun's like some sort of aries-"

"Actually, I'm an aquarius-"

"Whatever!"

The cart settled into a sort of semi-awkward, semi-tense silence, and for the first time since they loaded into the cart, Soobin allowed himself to think about what would happen if he was recognized. He was a deserter, and to the Jocks there was no bigger betrayal, especially when he'd been "rescued" by them. If Jungkook, or any of his core team, saw Soobin he was dead meat - and although the chances of _them_ being the ones on guard duty was low, there was no guarantee that they hadn't spread the news to the rest of the tribe.

Soobin could feel Taehyun and Kai's eyes on him, the two younger boys wearing matching concerned looks although Taehyun's was accompanied by a distinct sense of anger. "You okay, Hyung?" Kai said softly, trying (fruitlessly) to make sure that Yeonjun and Beomgyu didn't hear. Soobin caught Beomgyu and Yeonjun exchange a confused look at Kai's words before he cleared his throat and said, "yeah, of course. Don't worry about it, Hyuka." Kai didn't look convinced, and Taehyun clearly wasn't either given by the scoff he let out, but god, Soobin didn't want Yeonjun to know what had happened - at least not until the last possible moment.

Soobin caught Yeonjun's eyes in the rearview mirror, sharp, analytical, and as beautiful as always, even with his eyebrows knitted and forehead tensed. Soobin felt his heart jump in his chest, this was the first time Yeonjun had met his eyes since that first by mistake meeting at the corner store, and Soobin relished in his gaze even if Yeonjun's look was cold and calculating. They held eye contact for a second, teetering on a second too long, before Yeonjun promptly looked away, eyes still steely. Catching his own eyes in the mirror, Soobin saw himself looking positively forlorn, almost pathetic - god, he wasn't looking forward to what may or may not have been coming, there really was no way to know.

He clenched his fists and sat there, Taehyun and Kai squish beside him, with an angry ex boyfriend at the wheel and a boy he'd never met before with a chainsaw cradled in his arms.

He didn't have a good feeling about this.

*** * ***

**BEOMGYU**

It was easy sometimes, to forget that there had ever been anything before the Apocalypse.

Beomgyu had had a pretty good life, junior year was going well, Beomgyu had a large group of friends, he got unexpectedly good grades, he was in a band - all in all, life had been good, and the strangest part was that it had been like that just a few months ago. It was all that perfect middle ground, he wasn't in his last year of school yet, so college was less daunting, and he was now old enough to get invited out to parties and get his older friends to sneak him joints and beers. Now, since the world had ended and all that, Beomgyu had no idea where most of his friends were, how good he was at school was completely useless, and well, Beomgyu had seen any of his bandmates in literal months.

Until now.

Yeonjun finally pulled over at their stop right at the edge of MIDZY territory, sandwiched between an abandoned McDonalds and rancid looking pet store, who's inhabitants, Beomgyu was sure, had either turned into mutant, blood thirsty, killer pets, or, well, been killed by teenagers looking to grab whatever they could from the abandoned McDonalds. Either way, Yeonjun drew to the car to a halt, observing the area with keen eyes - as well as the 4 jocks stationed there, and that was where Beomgyu saw her.

Shin Ryujin was one of the coolest people Beomgyu had ever met - a soccer player, a basketball player, and stellar bassist. 

And also, as he'd just discovered, apparently part of the jocks.

Beomgyu couldn't say he was too surprised, Ryujin used to play basically every conceivable sport back in high school (note: like, 2 months ago). They'd been pretty good friends too, known each other since the 4th grade and all that, and she'd been a part of Beomgyu's aforementioned band - all in all, he'd been to enough soccer games and basketball matches to know that the girl could _play_. Her joining the jocks seamed a logical conclusion, as much as Beomgyu wished she hadn't - for no reason other the fact that now, escaping would be a hell of a lot harder. 

She looked good though, rougher and stronger than Beomgyu remembered her being - even considering the fact that Beomgyu had never actually managed to beat her when they sat down to arm wrestle (they tied, he wasn't _that_ bad), again, Beomgyu wasn't kidding when he said she was one of the coolest people he'd ever met. When he finally stepped out of the cart, Taehyun, Kai and Soobin still nestled inside, hidden by the canvas sheets as they'd discussed, Ryujin had immediately caught his eye.

"Oh my god - Ryujin?"

"Choi Beomgyu?" She gasped, "no fucking way!"

She crushed him in a hug, running at him in full speed, and for a second Beomgyu allowed himself to relax into it. He wasn't lying when he said they'd been good friends, so, just for a moment, Beomgyu allowed himself to relax into the hug, her arms wrapping themselves around his middle while he brought his own to her shoulder. It felt nice, Beomgyu couldn't remember the last time he'd hugged one of his high school friends - or anyone except Yeonjun for that matter, especially not anyone familiar. Beomgyu eventually distanced the two of them, keeping his arms on Ryujin's shoulders, "holy fuck dude how have you been - _where_ have you been?" Ryujin laughed heartily, raising her hand to ruffle Beomgyu's hair. "I rushed to the jocks as soon as could - knew they couldn't really not take me like have you _met_ me? Anyway, figures you'd be a MIDZY, you were always too much of a pretty boy for your own good, had too many girls and boys wrapped around your finger."

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, ready to retort with something equally scathing, until he caught Yeonjun's eyes, alarmed and piercing, and Beomgyu was reminded of exactly what situation he was currently in. So, he just let out a little laugh and said, "it's good to see you, Ryu."  She smiled back, just as cheeky as he remembered, and said, "right back at you, Gyu," and immediately Beomgyu felt a thousand times worse. Behind her stood for others, lounging against one of those intimidating trucks the Jocks had hauled and hoarded, covered in ugly spray painted squiggles and bad words

Things just got much, much, more complicated.

Beomgyu clutched his chainsaw tightly in his right arm, as he wrapped his other around Ryujin's shoulders. "So," he said, trying his best to ignore the breakneck speed his heart was beating at, "how'd you end up here? As a jock, I mean." Ryujin chuckled, "let me just introduce you to the rest of my friends and I'll tell you." Beomgyu nodded in haste, gesturing at Yeonjun, "this is Yeonjun Hyung, by the way, he's two years older than me, and a MIDZY as well, obviously." Ryujin eyes Yeonjun, "yeah, looks like one," she says under her breath. Beomgyu raises a brow, "what does that mean-"

"Anyway," Ryujin says, they've walked right up to the front of the Jock's van now, intimidating and tall, much taller than the golf cart they'd rolled in on. Yeonjun stands behind Beomgyu, a quick glance shows him staring down the cart, with his gaze piercing, eyes unimpressed and eyebrows raised, "these are my fellow tribe members, Lee Jeno, Lee Minho and Soojin Unnie."

The three of them stare down at Beomgyu, all perched on top of there van. They're all intimidating in their own right, Lee Jeno is built like a weight-lifter with a big scary looking baseball bat with pins shoved in everwhere Steve-Harrington-from-Stranger-Things-style by his side. He's visibly jacked through his thin muscle tee, or at least its a muscle tee now, the sleeves definitely don't look like they were always intended to look that way given how torn and frayed they are the edges. Lee Minho is intimidating in a different way, he's a good deal shorter than Beomgyu but his eyes and smile were nothing short of _catty_ , and even from way below Beomgyu can see strong legs and knows that this man could most definitely beat him in a fight. Beyond that there's a whole katana by his side, much like the one Soobin carries around, in fact, Beomgyu's fairly certain it's the exact same one.

Soojin was possibly the most intimidating of the three, she was built much in the same way Ryujin was, was taller and leaner. Her eyes were narrowed, cold and calculating as she stared down at Beomgyu, she was adorned with tattoos, Beomgyu could pick up about 5 or 6 and he had a feeling there were more. She held herself more gracefully than the rest, poised and elegant, legs crossed one over the other, with an unlit cigarette between her lips and a knife strapped to her leg. She was, quite possibly, one of the most intimidating people Beomgyu had ever seen.

Minho grins down at them, the only one of the 4 - aside from Ryujin - who's broken into a smile. Speaking of Ryujin, she's broken away from Beomgyu's side, now going through their trunk and pulling out what could only be a warm ( _gag_ ) redbull, Yeonjun's moved up to stand beside him now, and Beomgyu knotted his hand into the sleeves of Yeonjun's long sleeve shirt.

"Not going to lie, I was surprised to see a couple of MIDZYs wanting to do guard duty?" Minho says, "aren't you all supposed to be a bunch of princesses?"

Yeonjun quirks a brow, "Beomgyu's carrying around a chainsaw and I'm pretty sure we're both taller than you - who are you calling princesses?"

Minho whistles, visibly amused, "whatever you say," he regards Beomgyu, "and does your pretty boy even know how to use that thing?"

Beomgyu rolls his eyes, "what? You wanna see me try? Would you like a demonstration?" 

Minho raises his arms in defeat, expression still amused, "sorry, sorry, I kid," he says, not looking very sorry at all. Jeno speaks up then, he's far stonier than Minho, both in his appearance and in his overall demeanor. "Minho Hyung has a point though," he says, voice steady, "don't really see why you guys would give up a whole night of partying for boring guard duty." Ryujin groans, "can you two not be like this _all the time_ , I'm sure they just wanted a break from MIDZY life, god." Man, Beomgyu missed her - was going to miss her too, and was also still very much feeling incredibly guilty.

"Whatever," Yeonjun mumbles under his breath, "I'm just going to wake up Taehyun, Soobin and Kai." Ryujin quirks up at that, "There's more of you?" she asks, throwing Minho another (warm, _ugh_ ) redbull. Beomgyu nodded, trying his best not to give to much away, "yeah," he says, "3 more, they fell asleep on the way here, 2 of them are like 16 so Yeonjun Hyung didn't want to wake them up just yet." Ryujin shrugs. "Fair enough."

That had been the plan, start things off with just the two of them, and once things ease up a little, "wake up" Soobin, Taehyun and Kai who were "asleep" in the back of the golf cart.

"I'm not so sure about that," Soojin says, and suddenly everything is silent. Her voice is smooth and light and still, somehow, Beomgyu is insanely intimidated by it. There isn't a trace of, well, anything on her face. Her eyebrows are relaxed and She stares down at him emotionlessly, before directing her vision towards Yeonjun, who's standing by the car, acting to make it look like he's waking the three others up. "In fact," Soojin continues, redirecting her eyes at Beomgyu, she picks at her cigarette, still unlit, and pulls out her lighter, "I was specifically told that there'd only be 2 of you."

Soojin stares him dead in the eye, as she lights a cigarette and inhales.

Beomgyu gulps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> andddd another cliff hanger im so sorry
> 
> ALSO if any of yall are watching i-land, shameless plug, but i wrote a couple I-LAND fics omg - also if you do watch it scream about it in the comments im strUgGLiNg

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is the first time i'm writing a fic with like any sort of fantasy elements at all so like go easily


End file.
